Healthcare Informatics Releases Exclusive Physician Survey Results—Most Practices Still Need MACRA Help

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Healthcare Informatics surveyed 2,045 U.S. physicians in SERMO across various specialties—revealing that most practices still need MACRA help, with many still stuck in fee-for-service environments.

Healthcare Informatics surveyed 2,045 U.S. physicians in SERMO across various specialties—revealing that most practices still need MACRA help, with many still stuck in fee-for-service environments.

The complete survey results are available at: https://www.healthcare-informatics.com/page/exclusive-survey-report-macra-how-ready-are-us-physicians

Just one in five practices (20 percent) with 15 physicians or fewer and approximately one in four practices (28 percent) with 16 to 50 physicians report that they are “ready to go” to meet the core requirements under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), according to an exclusive survey conducted by Healthcare Informatics and SERMO.

The goal of the joint research was to gauge providers’ readiness for MACRA, a newly-implemented law that will fundamentally change how eligible Medicare physicians will be reimbursed, starting with an outcomes-based Quality Payment Program that kicked off in January. SERMO, founded in 2005, is a global social network for doctors—a virtual doctors’ lounge where doctors anonymously talk real-world medicine and medical crowdsource with their peers. For this specific survey, 2,045 U.S. physicians in SERMO across various specialties participated.

For the survey, 60 percent of respondents were in practices sized 15 physicians or fewer; 16 percent were in practices with 16 to 50 physicians; 15 percent were in practices with more than 100 physicians; and the remaining 9 percent were in practices with 51 to 100 doctors.

It should come as no surprise that the smaller practices feel less prepared for MACRA. Of those with 15 physicians or fewer, 80 percent said they either needed help with MACRA; or that they were not prepared at all. That unprepared/needing help number dropped to 72 percent for practices with 16 to 50 physicians, while for practices with more than 100 physicians, nearly half (46 percent) said they were fully ready to go with just 16 percent in this practice size range saying they were not at all prepared. Irrespective to practice size, 70 percent of respondents said they either needed help with MACRA, or that they were not prepared at all.

On the release of these survey results, Healthcare Informatics Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland said, “This is a critical juncture for healthcare providers as the healthcare system shifts from being primarily fee-for-service payment-driven to value-based payment-driven. It’s important for healthcare IT leaders to get a sense of where clinicians and medical organizations are in terms of understanding the implications of new payment mandates. The results of this survey confirm that many physicians, particularly those in smaller practices, remain woefully unprepared for the new requirements facing them under the MACRA law. It’s been excellent to work with SERMO to uncover the levels of awareness and preparedness for MACRA amongst physicians in private practice.”

The complete survey results are available for download on the Healthcare Informatics website: https://www.healthcare-informatics.com/page/exclusive-survey-report-macra-how-ready-are-us-physicians

About Healthcare Informatics:
Healthcare Informatics serves a professional community dedicated to the planning, development, and implementation of important technological trends that will define tomorrow’s healthcare. These dedicated professionals exchange a wide range of pioneering concepts as they tackle important strategic and information technology issues facing organizations such as hospitals, medical groups, and integrated health systems. Members of the Healthcare Informatics community share a focus on healthcare IT leadership, vision, and strategy—driving change forward by shaping innovations that point the way to the future of healthcare. For more information, visit: http://www.healthcare-informatics.com

About Sermo
SERMO is the place to talk about real-world medicine. It’s private and exclusively for doctors. SERMO is the meeting of medical minds and hearts. It’s a virtual doctors' lounge. All of SERMO's 600,000 members are verified and credentialized physicians. SERMO has also opened its doors to the global community, with plans for a continued global expansion. For more information, visit: http://www.sermo.com

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Peggy Mullaney
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