Congressman Offers 3-Point MU Fix

'What we've done is put in place a system that is forcing people into a square hole with a round peg.'

With $23 billion already spent on incentivizing providers to adopt electronic health records, many in government and industry are wondering whether taxpayers and patients got what they paid for. The heart of the debate: The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, its meaningful use program, and interoperable EHRs. "What we've done is put in place a system that is forcing people into a square hole with a round peg, or vice versa, and maybe not even doing what needs to be done as it relates to patients and physicians," said U.S. Rep Tom Price, MD, R-GA, said at the Government Health IT Conference and Exhibition. "That's certainly what I hear back home."

An orthopedic surgeon, Price added that the current "mindset of top down" is missing the customers – the patients and the doctors – and ignoring important principles of the healthcare system he thinks the US should want: affordability, accessibility, and innovation...