US releases $1.2 billion for EMRs

The US government is releasing $1.2 billion (€800m) to help healthcare providers implement and use electronic medical records.

The grants include $598m (€400m) to set up about 70 health information technology centres, which will provide technical assistance and support for the implementation of EMRs. A further $564m will be spent on health information networks to allow information to be shared nationwide.

Health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius unveiled the plans in Chicago last week, alongside US vice-president Joe Biden.

“This is just the first wave of resources invested in health technology aimed at transforming of paper-driven system to an electronic system over the next several years,” Sebelius said.

President Barack Obama’s administration has pledged to give every American an electronic record within five years, arguing that this is “fundamental to reforming” the entire healthcare system.

The US government has set aside more than $20 billion (€14 billion) in economic stimulus funds to implement records nationwide to improve patient care and cut costs. At the grant launch, Sebelius argued they would help reduce medical errors, improve quality and make the system more efficient.

The first round of grants is being funded from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. They will be made available in 2010 in a series of waves.

However, a number of other issues have yet to be resolved. Future payments to healthcare providers will depend on them showing “meaningful use” of electronic records and this term has yet to be defined.

A federal advisory committee is to come up with meaningful use standards later this month. These may include requiring healthcare professionals to give patients electronic copies of lab results and medication lists, and to send out digital appointments.

Since fewer than 10% of US doctors are thought to use EMRs at the moment, there are concerns that providers will find it difficult to meet the president’s deadlines.

Under the stimulus legislation, providers will only have until 2015 to purchase equipment and software that meet federal requirements, in order to be reimbursed by the government.

Key providers of electronic patient records in the US include Cerner, McKesson, Eclipsys, Athenahealth, Quality Systems and Allscripts Misys Healthcare Solutions, all of which stand to benefit from the effort to expand the electronic healthcare system.