Thune, Alexander, Roberts, Burr, Cassidy lead Senate efforts to provide regulatory relief to medical providers

Legislation introduced on Wednesday by U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) would provide relief to medical providers struggling to comply with electronic health record (EHR) regulations.

U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Richard Burr (R-NC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) joined Thune in introducing the Electronic Health Record Regulatory Relief Act, S. 3173.

The bill would shorten the reporting period for EHR use under the Meaningful Use (MU) program from 365 to 90 days. It would also expand the ability for providers to apply for hardship exemptions.

“Health information technology, especially the advancements in electronic health records, is an integral part of the future of America’s health care delivery system,” Thune said. “Our bill ensures that unnecessary regulatory burdens do not continue to negatively affect providers’ ability to leverage technology to improve patient care. I’m thankful for the administration’s willingness to provide constructive feedback and engage with Senate REBOOT members on this important piece of legislation.”

The Senate’s healthcare working group, Re-examining the Strategies Needed to Successfully Adopt Health IT (REBOOT), outlined concerns with current IT policy in a white paper released in 2013. Thune, Alexander, Roberts, Burr and Cassidy are members of the group.

“This legislation will help ease the burden of the meaningful use program for doctors and hospitals who have told me they want to spend more time caring for patients instead of trying to comply with government regulations,” Alexander said. “Specifically, it will give hospitals the same flexibility that Congress passed for doctors with overwhelming bipartisan support last April, and it will give doctors and hospitals the certainty of law that the 90-day reporting window for meaningful use proposed by CMS earlier this month is here to stay. I look forward to Senate passage of this legislation as we continue to work to pull the electronic medical records system out of the ditch, transforming it into something that doctors and hospitals look forward to rather than dread.”

Leveraging health information technology holds the promise of improving patient care and better utilizing taxpayer funds, Roberts said.

“However, the prescriptive nature of the meaningful use program has made it nearly unworkable for our doctors and hospitals,” Roberts said. “I am proud we have found some reasonable ways to provide much needed regulatory relief to the program and allow our health care professionals to spend more timing focusing on what they do best – caring for patients.”

The bill would also loosen the all-or-nothing nature of current MU requirements to enable more medical providers to qualify.

Burr said that the “one-size-fits-all approach” has jeopardized the potential for health records to improve care.

“I’m pleased to be working with my colleagues to advance common-sense policy that will provide flexibility and better support North Carolina’s hospitals and doctors in what’s most important—providing quality care to North Carolinian,” Burr said.

Cassidy added that, as a doctor, he knows firsthand how bureaucratic hurdles interfere with patient care.

“This legislation will reduce those regulatory burdens on providers, allowing them to better serve patients,” Cassidy said.