Proposed Legislation To Aid Safety-Net Providers Faces Long Odds
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Sponsors of MITECH suggest the bill would help providers serving low income areas efforts to move to electronic health records
Becker’s Hospital Review reports, “Many hospitals and other providers who serve a high proportion of low-income patients have been unable to meet the 30 percent Medicaid patient threshold required to be eligible for incentive payments.” The requirement is part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act’s Meaningful Use program and, as a result, three US Senators have introduced legislation that “aims to encourage safety-net providers to adopt electronic health record (EHR) technology by expanding eligibility for MU incentive payments.”
One of the leading proponents of the Medicaid Information Technology to Enhance Community Health Act of 2013 (MITECH), Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), said in a press release on his Website, “We can’t get serious about improving care and reducing costs for our most vulnerable populations without leveraging the full promise of electronic health records. “We’re moving this bill today so providers serving so many of these families in rural West Virginia communities – which are often the only opportunity for care within miles – can access this transformative technology that will change the way they care for their patients.”
The release also notes, “By expanding incentive payments to health clinics and providers who serve low-income, uninsured, and underinsured populations, the MITECH Act would help support these providers’ efforts to move to EHRs. Once adopted, EHRs improve providers’ ability to make a diagnosis and end duplicative testing, which reduces costs for the patient and federal government. They also help reduce the prevalence of “doctor shopping” for inappropriate drugs as physicians could see what other clinics patients have visited and what medication they were prescribed.”
Bill cosponsor Senator Al Franken (D-MA) is quoted in the same release as saying, “Using electronic health records offers healthcare providers enormous potential to reduce errors, improve patient health, and lower costs. This commonsense legislation would help make sure that patients can benefit from this new technology.” A third co-sponsor, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) noted, “This legislation will help many of our nation’s health clinics, including the Rhode Island Free Clinic in Providence, purchase electronic health record systems to better serve their patients.”
Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives and is quoted on her Website as saying, “This bill would even the playing field and encourage providers to implement electronic health records, increasing efficiencies and improving the health system so that we can continue to provide high-quality care to all Americans.”
EHRIntelligence reports, “The House bill aims ‘to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage the adoption and use of certified electronic health record technology by safety net providers and clinics under the Medicaid program.’ At its core, the bill intends to add the term ‘QSNC-based’ — an organization or individual designated as a qualified safety net clinic (QSNC) — which will be determined ‘on the basis of the site of service (as defined by the Secretary) and without regard to any employment or billing arrangement between the eligible professional and any other provider.’”
govtrack.us, a site that helps citizens find and track bills in the U.S. Congress and understand their representatives’ legislative record, gives both the Senate bill and the House bill a 1 percent chance of getting past committee and an no chance at being enacted. Similar legislation proposed by John Kerry (D-MA) in 2012 died in the Senate after being referred to the Senate Finance Committee.