CHICAGO – With an infusion of funding from the federal stimulus package, healthcare providers should look at what barriers are blocking a radical leap forward in healthcare information technology adoption, said Julie Boughn, director and chief information officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Speaking at Saturday’s Financial Systems Symposium at the HIMSS 2009 Annual Conference & Exhibition, Boughn said there are many barriers to implementing electronic health records, personal health records and electronic payments on a national level.

Nationally, only 1.5 percent of hospitals have adopted EHRs in all departments and 7.6 percent have implemented the technology in one or more departments, according to CMS officials.

“These payments are not going to happen if we don’t drive these rates up,” said Boughn.

Physicians have said barriers to EHR implementation include initial startup costs, an interruption to workflow and training time that comes with hassles.

“Most of the providers still left practicing do it for their patients, and during the conversion stage (to an EHR), you have to stop or cut back on patient care,” said Jaymi Meyers, MD, physician advisor for Foothills Health Information Network in Seneca, S.C.

Meyers said the loss in patient-care time results in a loss of money for any practice.

If there was a financial incentive to take a few weeks to train on an EHR, more physicians might be enticed to implement one, said Thomas J. Allen, senior implementation specialist for Profero Solutions.

In an effort to push EHR implementation, CMS has launched pilots in states such as South Carolina and in programs such as TriCare. In a push for PHRs, the Web site www.myMedicare.org has “well into the millions” of subscribers who use the service to manage their healthcare. The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative is also still in full swing.