HHS announces 2013 health IT goals, issues RFI
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is putting more weight behind health IT, health information exchange (HIE) in efforts to securely exchange information across providers, reduce hospital readmission rates and improve overall quality of care.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and the National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD, announced on March 6 its plans to accelerate HIE and “build a seamless and secure flow of information essential to transforming the healthcare system.”
To that end, HHS identified the following actions:
- Set “aggressive” goals of 50 percent of physician offices using EHRs and 80 percent of eligible hospitals receiving meaningful use incentive payments by the end of 2013;
- Increase emphasis on interoperability by issuing a request for information seeking public input on policies to strengthen the business case for electronic exchange across providers;
- Enhance effective EHR use through efforts like the Blue Button initiative, which allows Medicare beneficiaries to access their full records online;
- Implement Meaningful Use Stage 2, encompassing how data will be structured and coded so that providers can format and securely send data; and
- Ensure program integrity and work against unethical use of technology through extensive medical reviews and issuing comparative billing reports that identify providers, among other actions.
“The goals build on the significant progress HHS and its partners have already made on expanding health IT use,” the announcement stated, adding that EHR use has tripled since 2010, increasing to 44 percent in 2012 and computerized physician order entry has increased by 168 percent since 2008.