Currently, about 5.6 million Medicare beneficiaries are covered by an accountable care organization. A commanding majority — 95 percent — use EHRs, and most receive claims and other data from payers. However, few ACOs use more advanced health IT that could help them better monitor and serve their populations, according to a new survey from the eHealth Initiative.
The survey of 62 ACOs revealed less than 40 percent collect and use data from public health registries, less than 30 percent use telehealth or online scheduling and less than 25 percent employ remote patient monitoring or use data from regional health information exchanges.
Barriers cited in the survey included cost, a lack of interoperability between EHR systems, lackluster provider engagement and privacy concerns.
"ACOs are seeing growing pains when it comes to their health IT infrastructure," said Jon Dimsdale, director of programs and research at the eHealth Initiative, according to a Bloomberg report. "Most were able to put in some key health IT building blocks, but they now face barriers [in implementing more advanced technologies]."
More articles on ACOs:
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