Consumer groups rally for patient focus in meaningful use

The government should not water down the patient and consumer provisions of its proposed health IT meaningful use rule to focus narrowly on simple adoption of HIT, a group of consumer organizations warned.

“Many (health) organizations have warned that these (patient-centered) criteria are too difficult to achieve,” said Christine Bechtel,  vice president of the  National Partnership for Women & Families. “We disagree”.

There are many ways that the draft rule supports the right balance between accelerating the use of HIT and helping providers make meaningful change, she said.

For example, regional health IT extension centers will assist physicians with electronic health record deployment and its meaningful use, she said. And in their first year, providers also only have to demonstrate meaningful use for 90 consecutive days.

“That effectively gives them additional time to achieve the elements of meaningful use,” Bechtel said.

The comments of Bechtel’s organization were included as part of the comments on meaningful use by an umbrella group of similar organizations that sneaked under the March 15 deadline  for comments set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is developing the final rule.

Other organizations in the group include AARP, Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumers Union and the Pacific Business Group on Health, which represents employers.

Bechtel said that patient engagement in meaningful use would have real benefits, and introduced a real-world example.

Regina Holliday, an advocate for patient access to their records, related her experience of not having information or the physician available for days after her husband was informed he had terminal cancer. When he was later transferred to another provider, the accompanying information on her husband was outdated.

At the new hospital, the nurse had to assemble a patient summary over hours on the phone and fax, Holliday said. When she tried to obtain his full record from the original hospital, they told Holliday it would be 73 cents a page and a three-week wait. After some negotiation, she got it in one hour, but it had 13 errors, which she had to work clear up, she said.

Among other comments, the consumer group support said meaningful use requirements should make available patient education resources and links to materials to help them understand health information; medication reconciliation as patients receive care from multiple providers; and documentation of whether there is an advance directive or not on a Medicare patient.

They also believe that providers should ask patients about their experience in receiving care. 

The comments of the consumer groups are available online .