Release Date: Monday, March 29, 2010

In 2009, ARRA legislation introduced financial incentives that pushed EMR projects to the tops of providers’ priority lists, but the protracted delivery of federal requirements delayed purchase decisions for months. As a result, 2009 played out like a long, slow climb to the top of what could be a spectacular roller coaster of EMR purchasing in 2010. With upcoming incentives and penalties twisting the track, providers are riding the EMR roller coaster with a broad range of expectations—and fears—about what will happen once they crest the top and the cart drops into its run. “Nobody knows what the approved products are or what the approved levels mean,” one provider commented in February 2010. “It seems like the Wild West out there. Nobody knows what this will look like in the end.”

Non-Provider Price: $9,850
Provider Price: $980