On Thursday, bipartisan committee leaders in the House and Senate introduced a "doc fix" proposal to replace the sustainable growth rate. The proposed legislation includes provisions centered on health IT, including interoperability, meaningful use and telemedicine.
The proposed legislation recommends Congress require the nationwide implementation of interoperable certified EHR technology by Dec. 31, 2018.
Additionally, the bill includes an amendment barring healthcare professionals and hospitals from "knowingly and willfully [taking] action (such as to disable functionality) to limit or restrict the compatibility or interoperability of the certified EHR technology."
The bill also seeks to develop a way to compare certified EHR products, and tasks the HHS secretary with conducting a study to examine the feasibility of doing so. The bill suggests comparison mechanisms such as a website displaying aggregated results of meaningful EHR user surveys on the functionality of their systems or information from certified vendors presented in a publicly available, standardized format.
Telemedicine also is discussed in the proposed legislation, which asks the Comptroller General to conduct a study on how the definition of telehealth across federal efforts can inform the use of telehealth in Medicare. The study should also identify and analyze issues that can either facilitate or inhibit telehealth under Medicare as well as the potential implications widespread telehealth may have in regards to payment and delivery transformations in the Medicare program.
Finally, the bill seeks a study on remote patient monitoring services examining financial incentives to such technology in the private payer market as well as barriers to adoption under the Medicare program.
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