WASHINGTON – Since the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) in 2009, Congress has been ever-watchful of the progress being made on electronic health record adoption.
On Sept. 30, healthcare IT stakeholders testified before the House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation with a mixed review. Some said progress is coming along – but many said there is still much to be done.
David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, reported that the Department of Health and Human Services has made "remarkable progress" since the passage the HITECH Act.
ONC has put to use nearly all of the $2 billion it was allotted under the Act, funneling it toward a host of programs that "will have a lasting impact on the HIT landscape," he told lawmakers.
Dick Gibson, MD, president of the Oregon Health Network, said the federal EHR incentive program "has been well received by the provider community," but also that many challenges remain before adoption will be widespread.
"Most of the more than 400,000 Eligible Professionals still need to acquire an electronic health record, and most of that effort will be in small physician offices," Gibson said.
The federal government has estimated it will cost a provider $94,000 to adopt EHRs, with the incentive plans covering 47 to 67 percent of it, he said. "Even with the generous EHR incentive program, there still may not be a sufficient financial rationale for individual providers or small practices to invest in electronic health records," he added.
Gibson warned that clinicians feel vulnerable in the malpractice lawsuit landscape and are wary that EHRs won't contain the kind of documentation that will protect them should they be sued.
Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR), along with Blumenthal hailed the post-HITECH era and the advent of EHRs as a monumental step forward for patients. Yet they both recognized the lofty challenges ahead.
“We still have a ways to go in promoting interoperability, coordinating the many health IT projects underway, governing the standards development process, and providing direction on privacy and security," Wu said.
