Instead, the government should do nothing and let the market develop interoperability on its own, according to a TechTank blog post from the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research institute. The EHR market is saturated, and the only service left to provide that has extra value is exchanging information. The market will encourage competition and lower prices as time goes on, according to the blog post.
This opinion follows the news that Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) is considering levying sanctions against the EHR companies to force them to exchange information. The funds from the EHR incentives program are drying up, and in order to continue growing in the healthcare industry, the EHR vendors will have to open up their information sharing capabilities and compete, according to the blog post.
“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,” the post read. “EHR vendors will end up lowering their fees to a reasonable level or will eventually go out of business.”