Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs of Premier healthcare alliance, issued a statement regarding CMS' release of its meaningful use regulation and noted his concern of CMS’ decision to provide a single base payment to co-located and multi-campus hospitals. Because hospitals incur separate EHR costs for each inpatient facility, Premier says this “one size fits all” approach would unfairly handicap co-located or multi-campus hospitals, and significantly cut into payments these facilities would need to deploy EHRs. Premier noted they would continue to work with CMS and key legislators to address this issue.
The healthcare alliance however strongly supports CMS’ decision to only require reporting on clinical quality measures that currently have electronic specifications and standards. The alliance notes that CMS has taken a more reasonable approach in requirements to comply with the meaningful use criteria, to help ensure a higher level of qualification for incentive payments to implement EHRs and improve patient care.
Premier is a healthcare alliance based in Charlotte, N.C. that serves the strategic needs of more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals.
