‘Gold rush’ for medical e-records firms seeking stimulus funds

Fred Schulte

LAS VEGAS — Fred Schulte, senior reporter with the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, told IRE attendees to expect a “gold rush” for the 200 to 300 electronic-medical-records firms seeking to get a piece of the billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds for health IT. 

He advised local reporters to look at the 60 contracts already awarded for regional extension centers. According to the government website on the program, the centers will help health-care providers ”quickly become adept and meaningful users of electronic health records.”

He said the government is expected to spend $2 billion on the regional centers, $27 billion at hundreds of thousands of doctors’ offices and 5,000 hospitals, and $1 billion for comparative-effectiveness research on various treatments.  

Doctors can get up to $44,000 each. Hospitals will average $5 million, but for large institutions, the investment could be up to $100 million.  “The technology companies are falling all over themselves trying to get piece of the action,” he said.

 He said vendors are promising they will meet standards that haven’t been written yet. Some are offering interest-free loans to doctors or selling free or low-cost  systems with hidden fees. He said some contracts have included gag clauses to prevent the reporting of any adverse effects from the systems.  

“There are so many local stories to do out of this,” he said. Once the standards are final, the government will list who qualifies for the money, but that information is probably a year away, he said. “Most of the money is going to be going out two, three, four years from now,” he said. 

Issues include the security of the e-records (are they encrypted?), software glitches that might cause safety concerns, ease of communication among different systems, and availability in rural areas. 

Other questions: Will tax money be wasted on poor quality software? Is the roll-out moving too fast? Are patients better off? 

Here are links Schulte provided:  

•  Office of National Coordinator of Health IT: It is directing the stimulus program.
• HIStalk: This blog is run by an anonymous health IT pro who keeps tabs on the industry.
• The Health Care Blog: It bills itself as: “Everything you ever wanted to know about the Health Care system. But were afraid to ask.”
• iHealthbeat.org: It is a service of the philanthropic California Healthcare Foundation. It aggregates industry news and maintains a stimulus watch.
• Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society: It is a trade group that claims more than 20,000 members.
• American Medical Informatics Association: It says it has about 4,000 members.
• MAUDE (Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience): It tracks reports of malfunctions and other failures of medical devices.
• Certification Commission for Health Information Technology: It is the oldest group that certifies electronic medical records, although it will soon have competition. The stimulus law requires health providers to buy “certified” systems.