Health Execs Uneasy About EHR Budgets, Survey Finds

About half the business administrators at hospitals or health systems who participated in a recent poll conducted by New York-based audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG said they're halfway or more done with deployment of their electronic health record system; 48 percent, however, said they're only somewhat comfortable with their organization's budget for doing so.

Only 25 percent said they were very comfortable with the budget, while 9 percent indicated they were not comfortable at all. "There is a level of uneasiness as to whether there is adequate funding to complete these projects," Gary Anthony, principal with KPMG Healthcare said in a announcement. "In most organizations, EHR deployment will most likely be one of the most transformational projects that they've ever undertaken, as well as one of the largest investments outside of the construction of a new hospital they've ever made. Yet, many organizations view EHR as just an IT project and that may be why we are seeing multiple extensions to scope, timeline and budget."...