Subcommittee Receives Update on Health IT Standards and Interoperability
(Washington, DC) - Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation held a hearing entitled, “Is “Meaningful Use” Delivering Meaningful Results?: An Examination of Health Information Technology Standards and Interoperability.” The purpose of the hearing was to review federal activities in promoting the interoperability of health information technology (IT) and to examine the implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, including the recently announced final rule for Stage 2 of meaningful use.
Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI) said in his statement for the record, “The use of electronic health records, or EHRs, has real-world implications for the cost and quality of health care. Right now, a physician may order a duplicative test because previous test results from another hospital or doctor are not readily at hand, or they may miss a harmful drug interaction because a patient’s full medication list is not available and the patient is not in a condition to provide that information. Increasing the adoption and use of health IT could help prevent some of the medical errors that injure at least 1.5 million Americans each year and lead to an estimated 98,000 deaths annually, including that of my cousin.”
It is generally accepted that improved communication among healthcare providers and between providers and patients leads to more efficient and higher quality care. However, there are a number of challenges such as developing technical standards for interoperability and ensuring the privacy and security of patient records that must be addressed for the widespread adoption and implementation of health information technologies.
Ranking Member Donna E. Edwards (D-MD) stated, “Small providers, including those in rural areas, face additional challenges such as limited resources and a lack of technical expertise to implement successfully electronic health records. However, a majority of Americans receive their primary care from providers with less than 5 doctors. It is critical that we provide these small practices with the tools necessary to ensure that all Americans benefit from higher quality care.”
In her testimony, Dr. Willa Fields, Chair of the Board of directors of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), said, “[The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program] has been an undeniable success for the nation. The staged approach to adoption of health information technology by providers and facilities tied to the demonstrated use of these capabilities in a ‘meaningful way’ is producing real results.”
She continued, “The faster we keep this progress moving, the sooner we will realize real savings in healthcare costs, the sooner we impact the quality of healthcare, the sooner individual clinical care is improved, and the sooner we can realize the promises of real population health management.”
There are three planned stages of meaningful use. Each stage is associated with the technical standards and requirements needed to achieve specific objectives that will lead to increased efficiencies, improved patient care and public health outcomes. Stage 1 provides incentives for the development of the health IT infrastructure by setting baselines for electronic data capture and information exchange; stage 2 advances interoperability with requirements for the exchange of specific information that will improve clinical processes; and stage 3 requirements will focus on health outcomes through improvements in quality, safety, efficiency, and clinical decision support tools.
“I am encouraged by the criteria and standards included in the final rule for Stage 2 of meaningful use,” said Mr. Clarke. “Such a platform will ensure that once a physician or healthcare provider has adopted a certified EHR technology they will be able to send, receive, and use this critical health information.”
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The hearing can be seen in its entirety on our website, but, highlights of our Democratic Members can be found here.
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