Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Burwell Commits To Address Problems With Digital Health Records
The chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday secured a commitment from Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to work to address problems with electronic health records. At a Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., expressed concern about the amount of federal funding spent subsidizing the shift from paper to electronic records while doctors continue to resist, even in the face of penalties for non-participation, and express dissatisfaction with the systems. Alexander and Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the HELP panel, have formed a bipartisan working group to identify five or six problems with electronic health records that can be addressed administratively or legislatively. (Attias, 4/23)
About half of the physicians and other eligible professionals who could participate in the federal electronic medical records incentive program did so in 2013, according to a report that the Obama administration planned to release Thursday. The number of providers participating rose by 47 percent from 2012 to 2013. (Adams, 4/23)
