Information Technology
`Meaningful Use' Recommendations Called
`Counterproductive' by Hospital Association
Linking incentive payments to specific "meaningful use" criteria is "counterproductive" to the purpose of the health information technology funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and outside the scope of authority granted by the legislation, according to an Aug. 26 letter from the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH).
Addressed to David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology for the Department of Health and Human Services, and Jonathan Blum, director of the center for management at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the letter specifically takes issue with the recent recommendations for meaningful use criteria drafted by the Health Information Technology Policy Committee. The federal advisory committee has proposed HHS use a "staged" approach, creating specific criteria to be achieved between 2011 and 2015 in order to receive the ARRA (Pub. L. No. 111-5) funding (135 HCDR, 7/17/09).
"Our outside legal experts view the ARRA funding as tied only to accelerating the adoption and use of [electronic health records] by providers and clinicians, and not to patient care achievements or outcomes that may be obtained while using EHRs," FAH President Chip Kahn wrote in the letter.
FAH, a trade group based in Washington, represents investor-owned hospitals.
The letter further stated that a meaningful user is a hospital that submits data, and that other federal policies regarding how providers and clinicians are measured for quality of care outcomes, such as rates of readmission, are outside the scope of the ARRA funding requirements.
"Because the main goal of ARRA funding is to accelerate adoption and use of EHRs by providers and clinicians, HHS should be mindful of not adopting policy that will hurt this objective," the letter said. "If HHS expanded this policy beyond the submission (or reporting) of data, it will have the adverse impact of limiting provider adoption of EHRs because it will prohibit ARRA funding for those who do not satisfy the performance measures. This result will run directly counter to the reason Congress provided this funding."
The letter also states concern with how the HIT policy committee's achievement-based recommendations will interact with separate Medicare payment policies, specifically pay-for-performance programs.
ONC was not available for comment at deadline.
The letter is available at http://www.fah.org/fahCMS/Documents/On%20The%20Record/Public%20Comments/2009/CMS-ONC_letter.pdf.
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