May 7, 2012 — Michael Apkon, MD, CHOP’s senior vice president of Medical Affairs and chief medical officer, submitted comments to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Stage 2 regulations for the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program.

This program will "provide incentive payments to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) as they adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology.” The program has the potential to increase the quality of patient care, gain better efficiency and collect better data; however, thus far it has shown a strong adult focus, lacking an adequate amount of pediatric measures.

Under the proposed rule, children’s hospitals will struggle to meet the number of required measures because there are still not enough that apply to our pediatric patient population. Many of the objectives will require our Hospital, pediatricians and specialists to collect and analyze data for our small number of patients over the age of 18, requiring much time and work without an increase in quality. Working closely with Dr. Apkon, CHOP IT staff, and many of our clinicians, the Government Affairs staff helped submit comments to CMS.

CHOP Comment on EHR Incentive Program: Stage 2 (PDF)