Many solutions have been proposed to encourage interoperability in the healthcare IT industry, but regulation will not effectively bring it to current systems, according to Brookings Institution governance studies fellow Niam Yaraghi.
Rep. Michael Burgess (R.-Texas) proposed a bill in January requiring interoperability among EHR systems to Congress. The draft bill proposes that a review board assess interoperability and publish a list of compliant EHRs by January 2018. The bill also suggests the Inspector General of HHS will have authority to investigate EHR vendors and medical providers in regards to claims that they are preventing interoperability.
However, Mr. Yaraghi writes on Brookings' TechTank blog that it is backed up by a bluff: the ONC cannot decertify an EHR vendor that has more than 50 percent of the market share. In the face of Congressional pressure, vendors may enable data exchange but will institute high fees to do so.
Instead, cutting funding to the HITECH meaningful use incentives will force interoperability because the market will require health IT vendors to develop sustainable revenue sources through reasonable exchange fees.