The American Hospital Association argues CMS’ proposal to make data sharing a condition of participation in Medicare would be an ineffective means of advancing health information exchange
The Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems and Long-term Acute Care Hospital aims to enhance interoperability by establishing conditions of participation for hospitals, and it changes the name of the meaningful use program to “promoting interoperability.”
However, AHA doesn’t believe such a mandate would do enough.
“The commitment of healthcare providers is not sufficient by itself to create interoperability,” reads AHA’s comment letter. “The technical and organizational infrastructure must be available and allow for efficient exchange, and all parties to exchange must be using compatible technology in consistent ways. … We urge CMS to recognize the impediments to information sharing and address them directly. We do not believe that creating a [condition of participation] or [conditions for coverage] that would apply to only one set of actors is an appropriate strategy.”
Instead, AHA says CMS should focus on the many barriers to interoperability such as devising a fully implemented exchange framework and adopting common standards and incentives for EHR and other IT vendors to adhere to standards.
Click here to read the complete letter.
More articles on EHRs:
‘Epic’ success: How Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia mastered its EHR update
What you need to know about CMS’ latest changes to its EHR incentive program
ONC to work with CMS to reduce administrative burdens on physicians
