Three senators are putting pressure on the ONC asking how it used grant funds to establish HIEs.
Since 2013, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mike Enzi (R. Wyo.) have been calling for an overhaul of the EMR incentive program. Now that Sen. Alexander is the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, he and Sen. Burr and Sen. Enzi have asked the Government Accountability Office to review the HIE funding, according to Business Solutions.
HIEs have received $600 million in grants, yet still lag in implementation. According to an October 2014 report to Congress from the ONC, approximately 24 percent of hospitals provided patient information to physicians outside their systems up through 2013. The ONC attributed this to organizational culture, provider workflow, limited high-speed Internet access and possibly hesitance to share information.
The senators, whose investigation officially began Jan. 9, want to determine how the funds were spent. Several members of Congress have also questioned how the ONC spent its grant money, according to Business Solutions.