Health IT Round-Up on Capitol Hill

Health IT has made news in Washington over the past two weeks with funding announcements, congressional hearings and new regulations.

"Meaningful Use" Dollars Distributed

Payments to Medicare providers who have achieved “meaningful use” of electronic health records have begun, according to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). A total of $27 billion in federal stimulus funds were made available in 2009 to incentivize physicians to adopt the use electronic medical records as part of their practice. Physicians are eligible to receive as much as $44,000 from Medicare over five years if they achieve “meaningful use” of certified EHR technology. A Medicaid EHR Incentive Program also offers payments to physicians who achieve “meaningful use.”

The first round of payments in May under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program totaled $75 million to providers who signed up in just the first two weeks of the program. Billions more are expected to be paid out as medical providers gradually switch to EHR technology over the next several years through the help of HIT vendors.

Congressional Hearing Focuses on Challenges to EHR Implementation

Financial, legal and technology barriers are preventing small medical practices from implementing electronic health records, said a top Republican at a House Small Business Committee hearing last week. Renee Elmers (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the Healthcare and Technology Subcommittee, examined barriers that small medical practices are currently facing in adopting HIT, featuring witnesses familiar with the EHR implementation process. Sasha Kramer, M.D., a solo practitioner in Olympia, Wash., recounted to lawmakers the thousands of dollars she has spent, time lost seeing patients, and technological hassles she has faced in adopting EHR.

Farzad Mostashari, M.D., HHS’ national coordinator for health IT, was sympathetic, stating, “My experience has been that providers in these kinds of small practices, as well as those in smaller hospitals, are aware of the benefits of health IT, and most would like to replace their paper-based records with a well functioning EHR system. But I also know that small practices and hospitals face unique barriers to successfully adopting EHR systems. These providers usually have less access to capital to spend on infrastructure improvements like health IT, and often lack staff with IT training and don’t have the background or the time to do it themselves. Further, they feel like it is tough to choose from among the EHR systems available in the marketplace and they simply cannot afford to make a mistake in choosing an EHR system. And every provider I know, including the ones in small practices, worry about losing patient trust if the information they maintain in the EHR system does not remain private and secure.”

Opening statements, witness testimony, and related hearing documents are posted. CompTIA also submitted testimony for the record.

New Rule Proposes Disciplinary Process for ONC-Approved Accreditor

The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology last week published a proposed rule that would govern discipline of the ONC-Approved Accreditor, the entity responsible for future accreditation of EHR vendors. The rule comes after ONC issued a final rule in January establishing a certification program for EHR systems, which will begin next year. According to the ONC, the January rule failed to provide a disciplinary process for the ONC-Approved Accreditor (ONC-AA) if it engaged in improper conduct or failed to perform its responsibilities. Violations by the ONC-AA that could lead to its removal from the program include “false, fraudulent or abusive activities” affecting the certification program, HHS or any other federal government program.

Written or electronic comments on the proposed rule can be submitted until August 1.