EHR And Telehealth: See Legislation Leap Through 21st Century Cures Act

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

As quickly as technology advances in healthcare, the way it is adopted and adapted is heavily impacted by government actions at all levels.

The Cures Act

While Meaningful Use has focused on incentivizing the adoption of electronic health solutions, the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures) sets out to break down barriers that have arisen as EHR (electronic health records) use has spread. At the same time, it calls for additional focus on research and development of telehealth solutions, as well as the creation of a pharmaceutical and technology ombudsman.

According to The National Law Review, the House Energy And Commerce Committee recently voted unanimously to pass the legislation.

Pushing EHR Interoperability

The proliferation of EHR has given rise to questions around the behavior of vendors and security of patient records. To address some of these issues, Cures names some broad criteria to further encourage EHR interoperability including:

• EHR technology must allow for the “secure transfer” of patient data from any and all other qualified EHR programs.
• The technology must also give “complete access to health data” to a requestor without requiring “special effort.”
• It also discourages “information blocking”

Additionally, it names the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as responsible for coming up with the methods needed to satisfy these requirements. To facilitate study, it provides for establishing a “Charter Organization” that will include representatives from the healthcare standards development organizations that are accredited by the American National Standards Institute.

Medicare payment penalties will be applied to any provider found to be using uncertified EHR vendors and could prove to be expensive. Because of this, providers have expectedly already reacted negatively.

Enabling Telehealth

The Act also addresses telehealth by calling for intensive study in the area. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) would be obligated to collect data around services involved in telehealth treatments and in cases where payments are not provided. CMS would also be obligated to report in four areas:

• Identifying populations of Medicare beneficiaries whose care would be most improved by expanding telehealth services
• Describing current activities related to the adoption and use of telehealth services
• Identifying “high volume procedure[sic] codes or diagnostics” which would be best suited to adaptation to telehealth
• Identifying barriers to the expansion of telehealth

Creating A Pharmaceutical And Technology Ombudsman

Cures would also provide for the creation of a pharmaceutical and technology ombudsman in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The position would be tasked with handling complaints from manufacturers of biotechnology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostic products about the coding, payment, and coverage of their products, among other potential duties.

The Future Of Cures

After passing 51-0, the act still faces a full vote in the House, and the Senate, where it is expected that it will see additional challenge or input in the areas of research and innovation.