A coalition of consumer organizations has sent a letter to six Republican senators calling for the meaningful use program to be bolstered, taking issue with a letter and white paper from the senators saying the program should be rebooted, FierceEMR reports (Durben Hirsch, FierceEMR, 5/16).
Background
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
On April 16, the GOP senators released a 28-page white paper — titled, “REBOOT: Re-examining the Strategies Needed to Successfully Adopt Health IT” — outlining their concerns about current federal health IT policy.
The white paper accompanied a letter that the six lawmakers sent to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The letter requested information about the agency’s progress in promoting EHR adoption through the meaningful use program.
The six Republican senators who released the white paper and signed the letter are:
In the white paper, the lawmakers acknowledged that the meaningful use program aims to improve health care quality and reduce costs. However, they wrote, “nearly four years after the enactment … we see evidence that the program is at risk of not achieving its goals and that $35 billion in taxpayer money is being spent ineffectively in the process” (iHealthBeat, 4/17).
Details of Coalition’s Letter
The coalition — led by the Consumer Partnership for eHealth and the Campaign for Better Care — defended the EHR incentive program and lauded Congress for developing a quick, phased-in approach to health IT adoption (FierceEMR, 5/16).
The letter stated that it is “imperative” to keep meaningful use rulemaking on its “intended trajectory and implement the lessons learned in order to ensure that the outlay of public funds through this program results in a healthier population, better care and more affordable health care costs.”
According to the letter, any delay or retooling of the meaningful use program would:
Source: iHealthBeat
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