Ever since the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) instituted meaningful use requirements, healthcare providers have been adopting EHR systems in order to gain monetary incentives and streamline patient care.

However, it seems that healthcare facilities are not as ready as most thought when it comes to meeting stage two of meaningful use requirements.  A new survey released by KPMG LLP, an audit, tax and advisory services firm, shows that a large percentage of medical professionals do not feel confident in their organization's level of readiness to meet meaningful use stages.

The survey indicates that 48 percent of polled healthcare leaders said they were fully confident in their organization's ability to meet meaningful use requirements. However, 39 percent stated only some confidence while 3 percent had no confidence whatsoever in their organization's level of readiness.

In regards to the difficulties presented with meaningful use stages, Mike Beaty, principal and KPMG Healthcare IT enablement leader, stated that, "Adding to the challenge is the continuing development of the regulations themselves. Each successor stage really builds on its predecessor, so it's imperative that organizations really embrace and institutionalize the concept that achieving compliance is not just a technology focused project. Real success will be defined by highly-effective adoption of redesigned clinical workflows and care delivery processes."

A major issue defined by the study shows that healthcare providers are most concerned with appropriate demonstration of meaningful use requirements. A positive result is that 71 percent of those polled said they are more than 50 percent of the way to finishing EHR systems implementation.

In order to meet meaningful use stages, a chiropractor may need to purchase web-based EHR systems from a trusted vendor who created such technology specifically for the chiropractic profession.