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Doctors warned of technical problems with EMR systems by GE

Inaccurate reports generated for CMS could affect customers trying to qualify for meaningful use. The company promises a fix by the end of November.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan — Posted Nov. 3, 2011

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GE Healthcare is sending letters of alert to customers who use its Centricity Practice Solution and Centricity Electronic Medical Record systems.

In an Oct. 20 letter, GE Healthcare wrote that the EMR has technical flaws that will cause inaccurate reports needed to qualify for meaningful use bonuses.

Michael Friguletto, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare, asked customers who have not yet gone through the process of "attesting" to meaningful use to wait until the end of November, when GE Healthcare expects to have the problem fixed.

Attestation is the process of showing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that physicians or health care organizations have met the requirements to qualify for meaningful use incentives. Part of attestation is running reports showing that certain thresholds have been met.

In an executive summary of the situation, GE Healthcare said the reports affected by the technical problems are demographics and smoking status, both of which are core data sets required of everyone for meaningful use. The company said the problems also would affect reports on patient education, one of 10 "menu" objectives from which physicians choose five to qualify for a bonus under meaningful use standards.

Practices that have not yet attested are being asked to wait until GE Healthcare has fixed the problem. Those that already have attested may have produced reports that erroneously showed them meeting the required thresholds. GE Healthcare said when the problems are fixed, practices that have attested should run the reports again to check for different results. The company is working with CMS to determine what practices will need to do if the new reports show different results.

In the meantime, the company sent customers a list of steps to take to ensure that the data needed for the reports are being documented and assessed properly. "The underlying clinical data and logic of the electronic medical record system remain sound," Friguletto said in the letter to customers.

A spokesman for GE Healthcare said the company did not know how many customers were affected.

The company's website said more than 30,000 physicians use the Centricity EMR system, which is marketed to large physician practices. Doctors have until Feb. 29, 2012, to attest with 2011 data.

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