Bipartisan support of health information technology is urgently needed so that incentives aimed at encouraging physicians and hospitals to adopt electronic health records systems remain in place, according to a report by the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society.
"Our member-created Call-for-Action report offers policy makers concrete solutions that will help promote the adoption and use of health IT to contribute to higher-quality, more cost-effective patient care," David Roberts, HIMSS vice president for government relations, said in a statement.
It is yet to be seen whether the federal stimulus funds for health IT will be affected during the current budget battles at the Congress.
Nevertheless, the report, 2011-2012 Public Policy Principles, encourages continued progress toward implementation of the "meaningful use" criteria, which enable physicians to receive incentives tied to Medicare reimbursements if their adoption of EHR systems meets the criteria. The provision is part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
"We agree with Dr. David Blumenthal," national coordinator for Health IT, that "these are historic times. The HITECH Act is bringing the power of electronic health records to our health care system. However, these new initiatives should not create a new form of 'digital divide' and our goal is to make sure that all constituencies benefit from these efforts," the organization wrote in its annual report.
The report urges policy makers to make the following their top priority:
• Supporting the National Quality Forum’s National Priorities Partnership, which aims to create a consensus on standard for measuring performance in health care.
• Ensuring a consolidated communications tool and comprehensive road map for meaningful use.
• Defining each new meaningful use stage at least 18 months before the beginning of the next stage.
• Establishing grievance processes for providers seeking to fulfill meaningful use criteria.
• Developing an open and transparent EHR certification criteria process.
• Supporting the establishment of an informed patient identity solution.
• Expanding and making permanent the current Stark exemptions and anti-kickback safe harbors for EHR users.
• Eliminating the HIPAA Business Associate Agreement requirement.
• Providing grants and other incentives to establish so-called Health IT Action Zones that demonstrate effective health IT adoption practices by providers who care for patients in medically underserved populations.
• Aligning federal policy to facilitate electronic business processes.
The report also calls for a "structural payment reform," suggesting the repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) physician payment program and bringing up Medicaid reimbursement up to that of Medicare’s. Without such changes, the report warns, "all health IT initiatives are at risk as providers may choose instead to withdraw from these federal programs."
In his proposed budget, President Obama has laid out a plan to pay for the first 2 years of the SGR so that the physician reimbursement rates won’t be cut. His plan is to fix SGR in 10 years.