Mostashari Defends Vendor Fee Proposal

The U.S. National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD, outlined his ideas for a proposed vendor fee at a committee meeting Wednesday, arguing that “having an assured funding base” for the agency’s certification program “would reduce uncertainty for the industry.”

The fee would be tailored to raise as much as $1 million annually, with the costs spread across information technology companies selling software and IT systems to providers under the meaningful use program.

The industry has greeted the idea with general unease; the HIMSS EHR Association came out in opposition to the fee recently, citing increasing workload and declining government funding, and suggesting the agency look to streamline resources to avoid the tax.