Federal officials have been quick to note the rising number of providers signing up for HITECH incentives, but a recent analysis suggests they may want to pay a little more attention to making sure the program is working the way it was intended.
Conducted on behalf of the Center for Public Integrity, the analysis found, in looking at the HITECH payments already made, “about half of the first batch of federal dollars meant to encourage doctors and hospitals to switch to electronic records went to providers who were converts to the technology long before the stimulus program was announced.”
What ensues in the article is an interesting debate between those who aren’t concerned that not all incentive recipients are HIT neophytes, and those who consider this an example of programmatic mismanagement.
Not surprisingly, while the stated goal of the HITECH program has been, among other things, to provide support for providers who’ve been reluctant to move to HIT, some of the earliest incentive recipients apparently figured, as one put it, “If you’re going to do it anyway, then why not do it and have someone else pay for it?”
But, as the article’s writer puts it, “if one aim of the payments is to encourage adoption of health information technology adoption, why give them to providers who already have electronic recordkeeping systems in place?”
For some, the answer to that question seems to be, roughly, “because bringing attention to their success will encourage others to follow.”
Others, however, see the matter differently. A spokesman for one doctor/Congressman argued “if providers have been paid for systems they already had in place, that seems to be an inexcusable waste of taxpayer dollars. It makes no sense for HHS to pay physicians for systems they already have.”
To our eyes, the real thing to watch as HITECH plays out is how policymakers respond to reports like this. After all, having committed the funds, it’s clear the feds want to spend public money on the HIT transition. But what’s not so clear is how many changes they’re willing to make along the way to make sure that money is spent wisely.
