Dive Brief:
- The Senate Appropriations Committee has asked the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to report on the various barriers to freely sharing information between EMRs.
- The Appropriations Committee asserts that ONC, in its role as certifier of products acceptable for the meaningful use program, should only certify products that don't block data exchange. It's also asking ONC to prepare to decertify products that "proactively" block data sharing, as such blocks that make the technology less useful, devalue taxpayers spending on certified technology and block the original intent of Congress in passing meaningful use, Committee members say.
- Perhaps in a sign of its displeasure, the Committee is recommending a $61-million budget for ONC rather than the $75 million HHS had asked for previously.
Dive Insight:
It's difficult to prove that vendors are deliberately blocking interoperability between their EMR and competing platforms, but whether by intent or indifference, they're certainly not turning out interoperable products. In fact, it's often the case that even installations of the same EMR system in different locations can't share data with one another.
One vendor targeted by many critics is industry-leading Epic Systems, which Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) called a "closed system." Gingrey noted that more than half of the $24 billion spent by the meaningful use program has gone to customers of Epic, a concern for regulators hoping to create data exchange nationwide. But generally speaking, its competitors aren't performing any better on the interoperability front. It's going to take more than a few angry senators to get vendors in line; all attempts to batter them into interoperability have been a bust to date.
Want to read more? You might enjoy this story on the top 10 EMR vendors by MU attestations.