Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) is the main sponsor of the bill, called the Electronic Health Fairness Act of 2015. The bill seeks to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act.
Currently, ASCs are not covered under provisions of the HITECH Act of 2009, which outlined standards and incentives for adopting EHRs in physician offices and hospitals. Additionally, EHR meaningful use requirements for eligible professionals require that 50 percent or more of the professional’s outpatient encounters occur at facilities with certified EHR technology.
According to the proposed legislation, this requirement is disadvantageous for physicians who treat patients in ASCs because there is no certified EHR for ambulatory surgery centers.
The bill proposes such encounters occurring in an ASC should not be calculated into an eligible professional’s achievement of meaningful use requirements unless the professional chooses to include them. The bill would sunset once ASCs have meaningful use-certified EHR technology.
More articles on meaningful use:
4 quick facts on physicians fined for not meeting MU requirements
CMS plans to change meaningful use — AMA says that’s a good thing
Downtime for EHR vendors: What are they doing?
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