By John C. Whitham and Stephen W. Bernstein

Hospital and Health System leadership may still be hesitant to use the recently implemented Stark exceptions for the donation of health information technology to their community-based medical staffs. The financial and legal risks are still perceived to be high, and many organizations are waiting to see what others will do.

However, despite some risks, hospitals and their boards must consider acting now to lead their community-based physicians toward electronic health record (EHR) adoption. The EHR will enable greater access to clinical data and participation in quality initiatives for both physicians and hospitals. The majority of physician organizations cannot financially or operationally adopt an EHR themselves and therefore need hospitals to donate this technology, a major impetus for the change in the Stark law.

With pay-for-performance initiatives increasing, demands by payers and others for reporting hospital quality and costs are at an all-time high. Consumers are becoming more responsible for managing their own care and associated costs and are increasingly demanding access to quality care and performance data.

Permitting hospitals to foster physician adoption of health information technology (IT) signals the federal government's willingness to tip the regulatory balance in favor of health care efficiency and quality over the risk of fraud and abuse.

This new legal flexibility represents an unprecedented opportunity for hospitals to work with physicians in ways previously viewed as legally problematic. The adoption of EHR technology now stands as a clear gateway toward reducing medical errors, enhancing quality, and improving physician and hospital performance. With a well-orchestrated strategic, operational, financial and legal plan, hospitals can facilitate physicians' willingness to make changes in care delivery and assimilate more logically ordered and stored clinical data into daily practice.

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Recently, Center Member Touro Hospital was recognized in an AHA News article for being the first hospital in New Orleans to reopen after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 and the only adult acute care hospital to be in operation for the next five and a half months.

None of this would not have been possible had the hospital not had an extensive disaster plan in place and a prepared board that provided hospital staff with immediate action and critical resources.

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