Workgroups within the Senate finance and health subcommittees have plans to discuss the meaningful use program with the goal of providing feedback and recommendations to the ONC as the agency prepares for stage 3, according to a report in Politico.
A main focus of the discussions will be electronic health record interoperability, or the persistent lack thereof, according to the report. The discussion will come on the heels of heated words from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over taxpayer money subsidizing EHR systems that are unable to communicate with each other. Last week, Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD (R-Ga.), blasted Epic over what he called a "closed platform," and this week the bipartisan Senate Appropriations Committee asked the ONC in a budget proposal to investigate the problem and "take steps to decertify products that proactively block the sharing of information."
More articles on interoperability:
Allscripts EHR Fully Interoperable With Arkansas' HIE
Hospitals Respond to CMS' Proposed MU Flexibility, Ask for Changes
[Opinion] Health IT Spending: The Hard Bigotry of No Expectations