FCC: Health IT gaps remain a barrier to accelerate broadband
Despite significant governmental action, health IT adoption, information utilization and connectivity gaps remain that must be filled to accelerate the benefits of broadband-enabled systems, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which released its National Broadband Plan last week.
“Technology alone cannot heal, but when appropriately incorporated into care, technology can help healthcare professionals and consumers make better decisions, becomes more efficient, engage in innovation and understand both individual and public health more effectively,” stated the plan.
Broadband enables efficient exchange of patient and treatment information by allowing providers to access patients’ EHRs from on-site or hosted locations, removes geography and time as barriers to care by enabling video consultation and remote patient monitoring and, finally, provides the foundation for the next generation of health innovation and connected-care solutions, the commission stated.
“The U.S. is not taking full advantage of the opportunities that health IT provides,” the commission stated. The United States out of 11 countries, ranks in the bottom half on every metric used to measure adoption, including EMRs (10), e-prescribing (10), electronic clinical note entry (10), electronic ordering of laboratory tests (eight), electronic alerts/prompts about potential drug dose/interaction problems (eight) and electronic access to patient test results (seven).
The FCC noted that the $19 billion net investment to incent the meaningful use of certified EHR technology is transformative because the investment is substantial and the funding mechanism is focused on measureable outcomes, not inputs.
“The healthcare delivery system has been dogged for years by criticism that incentives are not aligned to outcomes. The meaningful use mechanism is an attempt, supported by an enormous federal investment and the threat of financial penalties, to develop a new incentive model,” the FCC wrote.
Although, even with Regional Extension Center and Beacon Communities initiatives authorized by the HITECH Act and funded under its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, health IT gaps remain, according to the FCC.
The organization recommended the following to close the health IT gaps:
Create appropriate incentives for e-care utilization:
“Technology alone cannot heal, but when appropriately incorporated into care, technology can help healthcare professionals and consumers make better decisions, becomes more efficient, engage in innovation and understand both individual and public health more effectively,” stated the plan.
Broadband enables efficient exchange of patient and treatment information by allowing providers to access patients’ EHRs from on-site or hosted locations, removes geography and time as barriers to care by enabling video consultation and remote patient monitoring and, finally, provides the foundation for the next generation of health innovation and connected-care solutions, the commission stated.
“The U.S. is not taking full advantage of the opportunities that health IT provides,” the commission stated. The United States out of 11 countries, ranks in the bottom half on every metric used to measure adoption, including EMRs (10), e-prescribing (10), electronic clinical note entry (10), electronic ordering of laboratory tests (eight), electronic alerts/prompts about potential drug dose/interaction problems (eight) and electronic access to patient test results (seven).
The FCC noted that the $19 billion net investment to incent the meaningful use of certified EHR technology is transformative because the investment is substantial and the funding mechanism is focused on measureable outcomes, not inputs.
“The healthcare delivery system has been dogged for years by criticism that incentives are not aligned to outcomes. The meaningful use mechanism is an attempt, supported by an enormous federal investment and the threat of financial penalties, to develop a new incentive model,” the FCC wrote.
Although, even with Regional Extension Center and Beacon Communities initiatives authorized by the HITECH Act and funded under its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, health IT gaps remain, according to the FCC.
The organization recommended the following to close the health IT gaps:
Create appropriate incentives for e-care utilization:
- Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) should consider developing a strategy that documents the proven value of e-care technologies, proposes reimbursement reforms that incent their meaningful use and charts a path for their widespread adoption.
- Congress, states and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should consider reducing regulatory barriers that inhibit adoption of health IT solutions.
- The FCC and FDA should clarify regulatory requirements and the approval process for converged communications and healthcare devices.
- The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) should establish common standards and protocols for sharing administrative, research and clinical data and provide incentives for their use.
- Congress should consider providing consumers access to, and control over, all their digital healthcare data in machine readable formats in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost.
- The FCC should replace the existing Internet Access Fund with a Healthcare Broadband Access Fund
- The FCC should establish a Healthcare Broadband Infrastructure Fund to subsidize network deployment to healthcare delivery locations where existing networks are insufficient.
- The FCC should authorize participation in the Healthcare Broadband Funds by long-term care facilities, off-site administrative offices, data centers and other similar locations. Congress should consider providing support for nonprofit institutions that serve particularly vulnerable populations.
- To protect against waste, fraud and abuse in the Rural Healthcare Program, the FCC should require participating institutions to meet outcomes-based performance measures to qualify for Universal Service Fund subsidies, such as HHS’ meaningful use criteria.
- Congress should consider authorizing an incremental sum (up to $29 million per year) for the Indian Health Service for the purpose of upgrading its broadband service to meet connectivity requirements.
- The FCC should periodically publish a Healthcare Broadband Status Report.