Maryland further strengthened the goals of the stimulus
package or the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) this past week by
passing legislation that required insurers to provide “monetary”
incentives for physicians to adopt electronic health records (EHR).
The bill, signed by Governor Martin O’Malley, is one of the first of its
kind to give sharper teeth to the EHR movement. Insurers may choose from a
variety of fiscal incentives including increased reimbursement and lump-sum
payments, according to Health IT News. The effort is viewed as a double
incentive to providers to join the digital transition that promises to increase
health care system efficiency while reducing medical errors for patients. Maryland is not alone in its effort to promote the change from paper to portal;
other states are reviewing similar measures that would jumpstart implementation.
Included in the Maryland bill is a requirement for the state
to bring a piloted health information exchange (HIE) live by October 1. The goal of the HIE, often comprised of business and community representatives,
is to provide support to health care system stakeholders with the goal of
increasing efficiency and quality.
Wait, have we heard of an HIE before? Yes. For clarification purposes, regional health information organizations
(RHIO) and HIEs are terms used interchangeably; the HIE is simply a new name
for a RHIO—it has yet to be determined if it is also a newer and better
RHIO. Lingo aside, HIE investment is up.
Other states are looking to HIEs/RHIOs to play a prominent
role in EHR adoption. New York, Texas, and Florida are all investing in these
information exchanges.
In New York, the Western New York Clinical Information
Exchange, known as HealthElink, signed on 6 EHR software vendors to provide
community pricing to its clients.
In Texas, the legislature passed two pilot health information exchange programs
that promote data transfer between local agencies.
Florida, having received a $9+ million grant from the Federal Communication
Commission (FCC), is exploring how to expand broadband access across nine rural
hospitals to increase the speed and efficiency of health data transfer.
Other states are vying to develop strategies for technology adoption that
support EHR implementation as stimulus dollars dangle overhead. Now that EHRs
are heavily banked by both federal and state government, HIEs and RHIOs may
take a greater role in aiding communities in EHR adoption. These exchanges
hope to serve as important providers of data warehousing as well as offering
leadership for the development of criteria for data sharing and data quality. States view HIEs/RHIOs as vehicles for transporting dollars toward the
development of technology infrastructure and they are moving as quickly as
possible to get their take.
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