Scott Palmer of SourceMedical Discusses 4 Top IT Challenges Facing ASCs in 2009

Here are four IT challenges facing ASCs in 2009 from Scott Palmer, president and Chief Operating Officer for the surgical division of Birmingham, Ala.-based SourceMedical, a leading provider of information technology solutions to ASCs, surgical hospitals and rehab clinics. 

1. Budgets strain efficiency. Mr. Palmer says the greatest IT challenge facing ASCs in the coming year will be maintaining adequate levels of service, equipment and software maintenance, security and user training in the face of flat or even declining budgets. He says that IT spending among ASCs can be roughly divided into three segments: independents, mid-size chains and large chains.

Independent ASCs typically staff no IT budget or staff and pay companies like SourceMedical to manage IT, he says. The second group of mid-level companies also typically contract out for IT services, while the third group, which includes the top 20 ASC firms, are more sophisticated buyers, staff IT departments and have IT budgets. This third group is most likely to defer purchases, he says.

2. Meeting compliance requirements. Mr. Palmer says ASCs will continue to see increasing oversight and compliance requirements from local, state, federal and accrediting bodies.

“That’s really ramped up in the past three years,” he says. “For many of these agencies this is mandatory data being sought in different formats often with different requirements. And everyone is looking for outcomes and quality measures.”
 
He says the expanding list of requirements presents a big challenge for ASC directors to keep their facilities in compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Act, Stark and antikickback laws, HIPAA and IRS regulations. But he says various healthcare associations are seeking benchmarking data.

3. CMS quality initiatives. ASC IT staffs need to keep an eye on the proposed quality initiatives from CMS.

“They have been deferred,” Mr. Palmer says. “But they are not dead."

4. Conversion to EHR. Finally, Mr. Palmer predicts that ASC IT departments will continue to support increasing physician and user pressures to convert to electronic health records (EHR) and paperless systems.

“We think 15-18 percent of ASCs already use EHRs," he says. "We know that percentage is going up, but don’t know the figure. We believe it is a more gradual increase.”

Mr. Palmer (scott.palmer@sourcemed.net) is a 30-year veteran of ASC healthcare information technology systems. Mr. Palmer was the founder and president of Temple Information Systems and former chief operating officer and CEO for Health IS, which purchased Temple and was later acquired by SourceMedical in 2001. Mr. Palmer also founded Prescient Healthcare Systems, an ASC information management firm also bought by SourceMedical in 2006, and helped launch CTQ Solutions. Learn more about SourceMedical.