A coalition of organizations comprised of heavy-hitters such as Intel, athenahealth, Verizon, Samsung Electronics America and McKesson penned a letter to Congress' Committee on Energy and Commerce this week expressing support for the interoperability measures outlined in bill H.R. 6 — the 21st Century Cures Act.
"Interoperable health systems remain more a dream than a reality despite tens of billions of dollars in federal and private investments over the past few years," wrote the coalition. "The sad reality is that current federal programs have not capitalized on the potential of
interoperable health technologies or the application of data in advancing better treatments and cures. As a result, the tools Congress meant for improved quality, efficiency, and health outcomes have become burdens on providers and a drain on taxpayers."
The group, comprised of 31 healthcare, patient advocate, consumer and payer organizations who support the adoption and use of health IT to improve outcomes and lower costs, penned the letter in order to voice support for the interoperability provisions included in H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act. The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously voted to advance the bill in May.
"We support Congress changing the law to address the known defects associated with interoperability," the coalition wrote, noting three major H.R. 6 provisions it supports:
• Standards: Health IT Now supports industry-developed standards, distinct definition around common standards, open APIs and thorough testing. H.R. 6 largely addresses these issues and will help ensure no more taxpayer dollars are used to subsidize business practices that impede the free flow of information.
• Process: The current standards process produces bad outcomes and should be reformed.
• Enforcement: The bill applies civil monetary penalties and decertification — program exclusion — for bad actors, including those who engage in information blocking. These same penalties are used for hospitals and physicians since Medicare's inception as a way to protect program integrity, taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries.
The coalition also cites statistics that reflect 77 percent of eligible providers are using certified EHRs, but only 14 percent of those providers are sharing that health information outside of their organizations.