Blumenthal: U.S. providers need to take advantage of HITECH

David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for the Department of Health and Human Services

It is impossible to imagine a high-performing U.S. health system that does not take full advantage of the computing technology that has transformed virtually every other aspect of human endeavor, wrote National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, MD, in a commentary published Feb. 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The effort to achieve meaningful use provides the best lens to understand the government's actions in implementing the Health IT for Economical and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, stated Blumenthal. “The administration is trying to do four basic things: define meaningful use, encourage and support the attainment of meaningful use through incentives and grant programs, bolster public trust in electronic information systems by ensuring their privacy and security, and foster continued health IT innovation," he wrote.

Blumenthal said that the provisions of the HITECH Act are best understood as efforts to improve the health of Americans and the performance of their healthcare system. "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) believes that the proposed meaningful use requirements will be challenging yet attainable, especially with assistance provided through other HITECH Act programs," Blumenthal wrote.

The various HITECH Act programs and regulations address implementation, financial and technical obstacles in adopting health IT, according to Blumenthal. “To help overcome financial obstacles, eligible healthcare professionals can generally earn up to $44,000 in extra payments between 2011 and 2015 if they become meaningful users of EHRs. (Medicaid providers can generally earn as much as $63,750 between 2011 and 2021),” Blumenthal stated.

For EHR implementation obstacles, the companion regulation to the notice of proposed rule-making on meaningful use--coupled with a HHS certification process which is still being developed--will define minimum capabilities for EHRs and help ensure providers that they are purchasing technology that can help them attain meaningful use.

Blumenthal wrote that the government has committed almost $650 million under the HITECH Act to the creation of a network of up to 70 Regional Health IT Extension Centers that will focus on primary care providers in small practices. "These centers will offer advice on which EHR systems to purchase and then assist physicians and hospitals in becoming meaningful EHR users," stated Blumenthal. 

A total of $560 million in HITECH Act funds is dedicated to lead the development of exchange capabilities within and across to state governments' jurisdictions, while the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT is accelerating ongoing work to create the Nationwide Health Information Network to address the lack national infrastructure for health information exchange.

Health information exchange, however, will never reach its potential unless patients and providers are confident that patients' data are private and secure, Blumenthal noted. "The ONC has asked one of its advisory committees to study additional measures for increasing the privacy and security of health information without compromising its availability for such critical purposes as patient care and research," Blumenthal wrote.

ONC and the federal government also plan to promote innovation through the ONC's recently announced $60 million research program designed to encourage progress in health IT's capabilities and usability, Blumenthal concluded.