$32K Per Doctor – – Are Health IT Costs Driving Up Healthcare Costs?

Doctor-owned multi-specialty practices spent more than $32,500 per doctor in 2015 on new health IT, staff, maintenance, and related costs last year, according to a new analysis from the Medical Group Management Association. This is up from $23,000 in 2010.

In 2009, President Obama signed into law the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, (HITECH), which provided more than $20 billion to help doctors and hospitals move into the digital age through the use of electronic health records and related health information technology.

It should be expected that IT costs will increase with the strategic shift in reimbursements. Still, American physicians are feeling the bite as emphasis changes from quantity of care given to quality and outcomes. That requires more patient outreach and technology to manage patients’ expectations. It also makes it more important than ever to engage a quality healthcare IT vendor and prioritize spending.

Additionally, this highlights the need to offset investment in IT platform tools with practical labor saving offerings which in turn help offset the IT costs.

One great example: reduce costs of handling and managing paper.

New technologies are now available to reduce costs in EOB processing as well as Correspondence letters.

See the article here.