Words, facts & figures in healthcare reform debate
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| Mary Stevens, editor, CMIO |
Those who want to keep reform in place—or parts of it, anyway—returned fire this week with some facts and figures of ther own. HHS announced that thanks to PPACA, Medicare beneficiaries nationwide have received $3 million worth of prescription drug cost relief. The Act has also helped CMS save $4 billion by cutting Medicare fraud—using tools including PPACA’s $350 million Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC) activities, according to the agency.
In general, federal supporters have been in full-court press to tout the early results of healthcare reform, knowing that the stakes are high.
A recent Hay Group study argues that federally driven health IT initiatives are creating jobs, not killing them. “A surge in interest regarding clinical informatics positions was created in response to the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009’s push to implement EMR systems to create efficiencies in healthcare, but also to create jobs,” the report stated. Ninety-six percent of respondents have begun to create these positions and structure these departments; 32 percent report that they are one to two years into the process.
Healthcare reform allies have to keep getting their points across, as opponents regroup and attempt to use the budget axe to go after PPACA, among other targets. The axe is not a surgical instrument, however, and without fine-tuning, the recently introduced H.R. 408, the Spending Reduction Act of 2011, will probably suffer the same fate as the repeal measure because of that.
The HITECH Act’s fate in H.R. 408 is uncertain, and the Act has probably benefitted districts that sent healthcare reform opponents to Capitol Hill. That might be one reason the language in the bill isn’t clearer—Congress watchers have speculated that legislators from both parties don’t consider health IT one of “the bad parts” of reform to be swiftly eliminated. However, both sides will probably look closely at a study this week that countered one of HITECH’s basic premises: that EMRs and IT-driven clinical decision support (CDS) consistently lead to better patient care. The study, published Jan. 24 in the online Archives of Internal Medicine found ‘no consistent association” between EHRs and CDS and higher care quality for ambulatory patients.
What does it all mean for CMIOs? We’ll keep covering the news to uncover the answer, or at least get past some of the posturing. Add your voice to mix: contact me at mstevens@trimedmedia.com.
Mary Stevens
Editor of CMIO