Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush revealed his plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this week. Gov. Bush's proposed plan also includes changes to health IT requirements, including an overhaul of the meaningful use program.
Here are five things to know about how Gov. Bush plans to change health IT.
1. In the plan released on his website, Gov. Bush says excessive government involvement is the catalyst for growing healthcare costs and lagging innovation because over-regulation creates significant barriers to entry.
"When the government tries to 'promote' health innovation, it impedes health innovation," according to his plan. "For example, the government spent more than $30 million on federally-approved health IT for physicians and hospitals, but one hospital system still cannot share patient information with another to coordinate care."
2. To address this, Gov. Bush's plan seeks to encourage private sector collaboration to lead IT adoption and establish national standards by "eliminating government mandates and penalties for healthcare providers who do not use government-approved electronic health records." This presumably refers to the meaningful use program.
Interestingly enough, Politico points out Gov. Bush's proposed reversal of meaningful use and reduction of government involvement stands in stark contrast with his brother, President George W. Bush, who created the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT in the first place in 2004.
3. In addition to removing meaningful use, Gov. Bush also supports the private sector taking the lead on protecting health information from hackers and enabling patient "ownership" of their medical records.
4. Gov. Bush also calls for a release of de-identified Medicare and Medicaid claims data that would be made available for commercial purposes in its original form. "This would allow entrepreneurs to use the biggest clinical data repository in the country to make healthcare more efficient and unlock quality and cost information for consumers."
5. Additionally, Gov. Bush proposes a "regulatory spring-cleaning," during which an independent commission would review federal regulations they believe impede access to high quality, low-cost health innovations.
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