Interoperability remains a political hot spot for the health IT industry, as vendors, providers and the government are all seeking to comply with the HITECH Act while also protecting their best interests.
In a blog post for Brookings Institution, Niam Yaraghi, a fellow in the Institution's Center for Technology Innovation, suggests the government should stop trying to mediate the disconnect between EHR vendors and medical providers.
"EHR vendors have taken patient data hostage and are not willing to release it unless they receive a big ransom," Mr. Yaraghi writes. He likens vendors' claims that technical problems limit interoperability to one phone provider saying its customers can't make calls to another phone provider.
Vendors often charge fees to release this data, anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000, according to a Politico report.
While the HITECH Act calls for health information exchanges, such a feat isn't possible without aligning benefits for all players in the healthcare market, Mr. Yaraghi argues. He says the government has three choices in this situation: It can pay EHR vendors "ransom" to release and share data, it can regulate the industry and force vendors to share data or it can do nothing.
The government currently appears to be following the first option, Mr. Yaraghi writes. Additionally, some lawmakers are drafting legislation that would force vendors to share data and support interoperability efforts. Mr. Yaraghi says this isn't feasible, as time is a critical factor in the HITECH Act's success, and it will be a scarce resource as vendors will resist regulation.
Mr. Yaraghi suggests, then, that the government takes the last option and does nothing. The pay-for-performance model will eventually help bring down or eliminate vendor fees, he says, as providers are forced to seek solutions to reduce overall costs. Mr. Yaraghi writes EHR vendors' only revenue source right now is for data exchange charges since the EHR market is highly saturated. As such, vendors can get away with charging such fees because they know the government will cover the cost for providers through meaningful use incentives, Mr. Yaraghi writes. He says that while every physician has an EHR system in place today and generally wants to exchange information, such federal incentives and dollars meant to encourage physicians to exchange data are being diverted to paying EHR vendors to open data sharing.
"If the free money from the government were to stop, then EHR vendors would have to persuade the physicians to pay for the exchange fees," he writes. "If the electronic exchange of information helps medical providers to cut back on their costs and save some money, they will be willing to pay a fair price for it. EHR vendors will end up lowering their fees to a reasonable level or will eventually go out of business."
More articles on interoperability:
Is interoperability the new meaningful use?
Valence Health CTO Dan Blake talks interoperability, industry development
Several congressmen considering sanctions on EHR vendors