GAO Urges EHR Program Changes

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending changes to two federal programs—the Electronic Prescribing Program and the Electronic Health Records (EHR) Program—to eliminate inconsistencies in reporting requirements and reduce administrative barriers to compliance for physicians.

Both programs, designed to encourage the adoption of electronic health and prescribing records, are administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The EHR Program provides financial incentives from 2011 to 2016 and introduces penalties beginning in 2015, while the Electronic Prescribing Program provides incentives from 2009 to 2013 and provides for penalties from 2012 to 2014, when the program ends.

Both the EHR and Electronic Prescribing programs require providers to adopt and use technology that can perform similar electronic prescribing-related activities. However, the EHR Program requires providers to adopt and use certified EHR systems that meet criteria established by the Department of Health and Human Services, which include electronic prescribing-related capabilities, while the Electronic Prescribing Program does not have a certification requirement.

In the report "Electronic Prescribing: CMS Should Address Inconsistencies in Its Two Incentive Programs That Encourage the Use of Health Information Technology," the GAO noted that because of the inconsistencies, providers have no assurance that systems they invest in will be compatible with requirements for both programs.

The GAO is recommending that the CMS administrator take several actions, including expediting efforts to remove the overlap in reporting requirements for physicians and aligning the requirements so that successfully qualifying for incentive payments or for avoiding penalties under the EHR Program would likewise result in meeting the requirements for the Electronic Prescribing Program.

The full GAO report is posted at <www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-159>.