Senate Finance Committee polls EHR vendors on safety

The Senate Finance Committee sent a letter Oct. 16 to 10 major sellers of electronic health record systems seeking to know what steps they have taken to ensure their systems safeguard patient safety, according to an Oct. 25 article in the Washington Post.

The letter was sent in response to testimony the panel has received from physicians and patients reporting they were unhappy with their EHR systems, according to the story.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the panel's ranking minority member, said in the letter that, "every accountability measure ought to be used to track the stimulus money invested in health information technology."

Dr. David Blumenthal, the administration’s national health IT coordinator, acknowledged that while some systems may have flaws, health IT had improved patient care.

"(The) critical question is whether, on balance, care is better than before," he told the newspaper. "I think the answer is yes."

The Veterans Affairs Department and Kaiser Permanente have used electronic health record systems to reduce errors and enhance patient care, the article noted.

Blumenthal and two federal advisory panels are developing measures for quality reporting, system certification and standards for information exchange that will be required for healthcare providers to demonstrate meaningful use of their electronic health records. Physicians and hospitals who meet those conditions in using health IT will be eligible for increased Medicare and Medicaid incentives starting in 2011.

The article is online.