On Friday, five national hospital groups sent a letter to HHS expressing their concerns about the department's expected definitions of a "hospital" and a "hospital-based physician" under the federal stimulus package, AHA News reports.
The definitions will help determine eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for the "meaningful use" of electronic health records (AHA News, 12/11).
The letter was signed by the:
- American Hospital Association;
- Association of American Medical Colleges;
- Federation of American Hospitals;
- National Association of Children's Hospitals; and
- National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (Healthcare IT News, 12/14).
AHA publishes AHA News.
Letter Details
The hospital groups argue that the use of existing hospital identifiers, such as Medicare provider numbers or National Provider Identifiers, to define a hospital "would not accurately reflect the deployment costs of all EHR systems across all hospitals in a system."
In addition, the groups write that HHS' "hospital-based physician definition may inappropriately exclude physicians practicing in outpatient centers and provider-based clinics merely because their office or clinic is located in a facility owned by the hospital" (AHA News, 12/11).
Earlier Letter
Earlier this month, a group of 43 hospitals and health systems also sent federal officials a letter urging them to redefine certain terms to maximize the number of medical providers that will be eligible for health IT incentive payments under the federal economic stimulus package.
The letter suggests that officials should define a "hospital" as a "discrete site of service" so that a health system's individual campuses each can apply for the incentive payments separately. The letter also urges officials to rework their definition of "hospital-based physician" so doctors who practice in hospital-owned outpatient clinics can apply for the incentive payments (iHealthBeat, 12/7).