Horizontal and vertical integration's role in meaningful use attestation over time.

OBJECTIVE

To compare rates of attestation and attrition from the MU program by independent, horizontally integrated, and vertically integrated physicians and to assess whether MU created pressure for independent physicians to join integrated organizations.

DATA SOURCE/STUDY SETTING: Secondary Data from SK&A and Medicare MU Files, 2011-2016. Office-based physicians in the 50 United States and District of Columbia.

STUDY DESIGN

We compared attestation rates among physicians that remained independent or integrated throughout the study period. We then assessed the association between changing integration and MU attestation in multivariate regression models.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Our sample included 291 234 physicians. Forty nine percent of physicians that remained independent throughout the period attested to MU at least once during the program, compared with 70 percent of physicians that remained horizontally or vertically integrated physicians. Only approximately 50 percent of independent physicians that attested between 2011 and 2013 attested in 2015, representing significantly more attrition than we observed among integrated physicians. In multivariate regression models, physicians that joined these organizations were more likely to have attested to MU prior to integrating and this difference increased following integration.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings point toward a growing digital divide between physicians who remain independent and integrated physicians that may have been exacerbated by the MU program. Targeted public policy, such as new regional extension centers, should be considered to address this disparity.