The Senate has approved a bill that excludes patient encounters at ambulatory surgical centers from the Meaningful Use (MU) program.
MU requires eligible professionals to conduct at least half their outpatient visits at facilities with a certified EHR, but physicians who work at ambulatory surgical centers are at a disadvantage in meeting these qualifications because there are currently no certified EHR systems for those facilities. There also are no mandates for ambulatory surgical centers to use EHR systems.
The Electronic Health Fairness Act of 2015 excludes ambulatory surgical center services from being counted toward MU's 50 percent eligibility threshold until tested and certified EHRs are made available at the facilities. The exclusion would end three years after the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT creates EHR standards for ambulatory surgical centers.
The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association is pleased that the bill passed and said in a statement that now the House and Senate must work together to reconcile the measures into one cohesive bill.
Access the bill.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.