Dive Brief:
- Eight healthcare and technology groups have sent a letter to HHS's Health IT Policy Committee (HITPC), asking that Meaningful Use Stage 3 guidelines include a requirement that EMRs make use of patient-generated data from remote monitoring devices.
- The letter was signed by the American Telemedicine Association, the Association for Competitive Technology, the Center for Data Innovation, Continua Health Alliance, HIMSS, IHE USA, the Telecommunications Industry Association, and the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, according to MobiHealth News.
- HHS is already considering including such data into MU Stage 3, but the groups involved wanted to re-emphasize that such a step is a good idea; reasons remote data should be integrated financial benefits of the technology, which could save $36 billion globally by 2018.
Dive Insight:
While incorporating patient-generated data into EMRs may be a good idea, today's EMRs aren't configured to make good use of it. For MU Stage 3 to make worthwhile use of remote monitoring data -- rather than burying doctors in numbers -- EMR vendors and partners will need to make room for such data to be viewed in a meaningful context. Vendors have until 2016 to get this done, but the time will pass quickly between now and then. It's more than time to get moving on this.