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SaaS solutions: the answer to meeting “meaningful use” requirements in healthcare?

// June 14th, 2010 // Cloud Computing, Healthcare, Software as a Service // Susan deCathelineau

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a popular topic on the blog lately.  So, it seems like a great time to piggyback on what Jacqui Conn and Terri Jones had to say about it – but, from a healthcare software perspective.

A hosted software model isn’t new in healthcare, or any industry for that matter.  Providers from community hospitals to physician practices have already seen the benefits. Minimize IT staffing and support. Avoid the costs of equipment, servers and other necessary hardware. Identify budget as an operating expense instead of a larger, capital expense. Accelerate deployment.    

Let’s take a look at faster deployment times. Right now, this is the key to why SaaS is so important to healthcare. And it all comes down to two words: meaningful use.

As part of the HITECH Act in ARRA, healthcare providers are now required to meet certain standards, not just based on what technology they use, but also how they use it. We already discussed why ECM or document management is a critical technology piece in answering this “how they use it” part. But here’s the catch – these “meaningful use” requirements aren’t just about the “what” or the “how” – they’re about the “when.” The federal government has set a deadline for the requirements to be met – 2011.

That means that providers must have the people to research, choose and implement a solution, the hardware to support it and the budget to do these things – all within a limited time frame. For an on-premise solution, this would certainly be a challenge to get done, and get right. But not for SaaS.

Because SaaS solutions boast short start-to-finish deployments, they might be the only way for some healthcare organizations to get up and running in time for the deadline.  They also answer the budget, staffing and hardware issues – a rent-like pricing model and outsourced staff and servers to manage the data.

But despite the obvious potential of this deployment option, I have yet to see SaaS mentioned in the same article – let alone the same sentence – as “meaningful use.” At the same time, the major healthcare providers and associations continue to suggest that the deadlines are too restricting to meet. And maybe they are. But one thing is absolutely-without-a-doubt too restricting – limiting software to a single deployment option, and not even considering one that might make more sense – SaaS.

Read other posts by Susan deCathelineau