The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee still plans to propose legislation this year to advance the interoperability of electronic health records, one of many reasons the administration should wait to finalize Stage 3 meaningful use requirements under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said today at a hearing on “Achieving the Promise of Health Information Technology.” The legislation would be a companion to the 21st Century Cures legislation passed earlier this year by the House. Alexander also urged the administration to immediately adopt proposed changes to the Stage 2 requirements. “The whole purpose of this program is to benefit patients, so that they and their health care providers have quicker and better access to their health histories and their doctors and hospitals and pharmacists can provide them with better care,” Alexander told administration witnesses at the hearing. “There is no reason not to take time to do it right, and there are plenty of reasons to do [so].” On Tuesday, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) also plan to introduce a bill to address EHR certification issues, Cassidy said.

Related News Articles

Headline
The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Aug. 26 released a notice seeking comments…
Headline
The FBI Aug. 20 released an advisory warning of malicious activity by Russian cyber actors targeting end-of-life devices running an unpatched vulnerability in…
Headline
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 21 announced the creation of a Healthcare Advisory…
Headline
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, National Security Agency, FBI and international agencies Aug. 13…
Headline
Josh Neff, CEO of CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital, discusses a new cutting-edge communication platform that sends patient EKGs directly from the ambulance to the…
Headline
The Department of Justice Aug. 11 announced a series of actions taken against the BlackSuit ransomware group, also known as “Royal,” including the disruption…