NCPA on government's EHR efforts: 'Expensive, unproductive and potentially harmful'

The federal government has exerted too much control over health IT and needs to step back, according to a commentary written by a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).

John Graham, MBA, wrote the commentary about the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's 2015-2020 health IT strategic plan, which was released in December. Graham wrote that NCPA aproves of the five updated goals inlcuded in the plan but says overall the plan is too broad.

"The attempt to get medical providers to adopt EHRs has proven expensive, unproductive and potentially harmful, leading to the conclusion that the federal government should play a minimal role in guiding HIT over the next decade," Graham wrote.

The Meaningful Use program and incentives may have actually lowered the quality of care, he wrote, and the program is flawed because EHRs hurt providers' productivity and don't provide for data sharing. Graham also noted that the program is not meeting its EHR adoption targets, physicians are dropping out and providers have received payments even though they have not fulfilled their obligations.

Graham advised that the government let health IT evolve without certification or government incentives.

"The flood of government money into an emerging EHR landscape perverted the natural adoption of EHRs and has led to an installed base of EHRs that are not as effective as they would have been had the government not interfered," Graham wrote. "As HIT expands in unpredictable directions, the federal government should exert a humble and light regulatory touch; and refrain from the temptation to spend more money to encourage the types of technologies preferred by the government, instead of patients and providers."