WASHINGTON, DC (April 26, 2018): Health IT Now - a broad-based coalition of patient groups, provider organizations, employers, and payers supporting health information technology to improve patient outcomes - responded today to the proposed overhaul of CMS's EHR Incentive Program - better known as "meaningful use" - in the agency's proposed annual inpatient hospital rule. The proposed rule would also rebrand meaningful use as the "Promoting Interoperability Program."

Health IT Now Executive Director Joel White released the following statement:

"Achieving true, widespread interoperability of health technologies is at the heart of Health IT Now's mission, which is why we have been at the tip of the spear when it comes to stamping out information blocking, promoting open APIs, and clearing away other regulatory barriers that impede the seamless flow of information across the healthcare system," said HITN Executive Director Joel White. "While our evaluation of the rule is ongoing, we are heartened by CMS's proposed retooling of meaningful use to better promote interoperability and, if enacted, will be following implementation closely to ensure these changes are not merely a matter of semantics, but instead reflect a renewed commitment in word and in deed to finally resolving one of the most intractable problems plaguing the healthcare system today. CMS would do well to demonstrate that commitment by pairing this proposed rule with additional actions to support the statutory requirement of widespread interoperability before year's end."

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About Health IT Now: Health IT Now (HITN) is a broad-based coalition of patient groups, provider organizations, employers, and payers that supports incentives to deploy health information technology to improve care, patient outcomes, and to lower costs. Learn more at www.healthitnow.org.