The nation’s largest nursing home lobbying group has joined the American Hospital Association in urging federal health officials to hold off on new interoperability measures.
Last week, the AHA implored the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend a May 3 comment deadline for proposed new rules on interoperability. On Friday, the American Health Care Association said it agrees, given the complexity of what is being contemplated.
“We have not yet submitted comments but feel that such an enormous rule that will impact the access to information for millions of Americans should not be rushed,” David Gifford, M.D., AHCA’s senior VP of quality and regulatory affairs, told McKnight’s. “We agree with AHA that more time for thoughtful comments is needed to assure interoperability helps patient care and access.”
Calls for caution come in response to a slew of new measures proposed by CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in February. Those included a request for input on how agencies can promote interoperability between post-acute care providers and hospitals, and on reporting of public instances when physicians or hospitals block patient info requests.
AHA said in its March 20 letter to CMS chief Seema Verma that it hopes the deadline would be extended by “at least” 30 days past May 3 .
