AHA comments on draft Senate health IT legislation

The AHA today told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that it strongly supports creating an efficient and effective infrastructure for health information exchange that facilitates the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care across health care settings. “The AHA appreciates the attention and focus you have brought to the important topics of [electronic health records] and interoperability,” wrote AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels, commenting on the committee’s draft legislation on the issue. “We also appreciate the acknowledgement of the burdens facing providers and the focus on the federal EHR certification program. However, we have concerns regarding the problematic information blocking provisions included in the draft. In addition, we recommend additional focus on testing of health IT and would like to ensure that the private sector is fully engaged in efforts to create a governance framework for information sharing.” The committee is scheduled to mark up the legislation tomorrow.