GE Healthcare: ONC oversteps bounds in MACRA proposed rule

GE Healthcare has raised concerns that the recently proposed Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act gives the ONC more power than the agency was intended to have, reports Health Data Management.

The health IT vendor submitted public comments to the proposed rule, which was issued Wednesday.

The MACRA legislation outlines how Medicare physicians will receive payments, which includes provisions requiring them to use Certified EHR Technology, for which the ONC determines certification.

In the comments, GE Healthcare leaders said this level of review provides ONC more power than what Congress intended in the HITECH Act, and indicates a shift to a separate certification program.

Mark Segal, vice president of government affairs and policy at GE Healthcare IT, told Health Data Management such a shift means the ONC could arbitrarily determine which vendors are not in compliance with its own criteria. "We could be responsible for issues with no actual certification criteria," Mr. Segal said in the report.

Instead, Mr. Segal said the ONC should focus on issues related to safety concerns of currently certified software, as that is what the agency has authority to do, according to the report.

"We just want to make sure there is no overreach of authority," Mr. Segal said in the report.

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