Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), and a group of 37 other senators have sent a public letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius both commending the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) proposed rule on distributing health information technology (HIT) funds, but also with some criticism regarding the "meaningful use" criteria for the funds.

In the letter, the senators explain that they are appreciative of HHS's work to advance the adoption and meaningful use of HIT by health care providers, and supportive of the goals in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making CMS released January 13. (See DM 11343.)

However, the Senators suggest that the proposed rule be modified from its current "all-or-nothing" method. They recommend that the criteria in Stage 1 be deferred temporarily to allow flexibility for the eligible professionals and hospitals. In addition, the letter points out that in contradiction to legislative intent, outpatient physicians who practice adjacent to hospitals are excluded from HIT eligibility in the current rule. A correction has been passed by the Senate in the American Workers State and Business Relief Act, but the senators ask that the oversight regarding those outpatient physicians be rectified through change in the rule.

Additionally, the senators ask that HHS consider how to handle another problem in the incentive payment program, that of Medicare provider numbers. The senators say that a single number may serve for multiple campuses within a hospital system, whereas a hospital system with multiple numbers will be eligible for more payments. The senators said that this can lead to serious inequities for hospital systems of the same size, but a differing amount of provider numbers.

The senators' letter may be accessed at: http://finance.senate.gov/newsroom/chairman/release/?id=031d70e5-6181-43e2-8d6f-f3f3261741ba

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