GAO Criticizes HHS
A recent report released (pdf) from the General Accounting Office (GAO) criticizes the Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for failing to establish measurable goals in conjunction with its efforts to encourage use of IT in the healthcare setting.
While HHS continues to encourage IT adoption, there are no associated benchmarks or milestones to assess implementation success. The GAO specifically cites concerns data to report on quality improvement effots, noting the limited ability of existing IT systems that collect necessary data for such reporting.
This criticism has been consistently leveraged by the GAO. One specific concern arises in light of the grant awards from HHS to promote use of health IT.
Related stories:
- Health IT Bill Hits US House
- New York City Implements EMR
- Colorado Foundation Supports IT Integration with Grant Funding
- California Order Supports Health Information Technology (HIT)
May 8, 2007 Related topics: Trends, IT & software, Industry & Market