Dive Brief:
- Most major EHR companies have “gag clauses” in their taxpayer-subsidized contracts with hospitals and health systems, which forbids providers from revealing EHR-related problems and hazards to patient safety, according to a POLITICO investigation.
- The report found 10 of the 11 contracts POLITICO obtained from hospitals using six of the top EHR vendors--Epic, Cerner, Siemens (now owned by Cerner), Allscripts, eClinicalWorks and Meditech--blocked providers from revealing such information to the public.
- This report marks the first time such clauses have been studied, though they were first brought to light when a 2011 Institute of Medicine report warned such clauses "limit transparency, which significantly contributes to the gaps in knowledge of health IT–related patient safety risks.”
Dive Insight:
While vendors argue such clauses aim only to protect intellectual property, others say they are inappropriate in the context of healthcare because they suppress the disclosure of faults and problems that impact patient health and safety.
“The insiders tell me it’s the confidentiality and intellectual property clauses [that] are the biggest barriers to reporting adverse events,” POLITICO quotes David Classen, CMIO of Pascal Metrics, who co-authored the 2011 IOM report.
The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee plans to examine the issue, according to an aide to HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).
ONC officials say they oppose such clauses but lack the power to police them.
