Grassley follows up with letter to 31 hospitals regarding HIT vendor practices
Following up on his letter to health IT companies last fall, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter to 31 hospitals in the United States to inquire about each hospital's experience with purchasing and implementing health information technology. According to Healthcare IT News:
Grassley cites reports he’s heard about “difficulties and challenges associated with HIT implementation,” including “administrative complications,” “formatting and usability issues,” “computer errors stemming from the programs themselves,” and problems with “interoperability between programs.”
More specifically, he raises concerns that “when [providers] report such problems to their facilities and/or the product vendors, their concerns are sometimes ignored or dismissed.” Often, he writes, “this is attributed to alleged ‘gag orders’ or non-disclosure clauses in the HIT contract that prohibit health care providers and their facilities from sharing information outside of their facilities regarding product defects and other HIT product-related concerns."
You can find more about Sen. Grassley's letter to hospitals in his office's press release, which includes the full text of the letter.
"Grassley inquires about hospitals’ IT experiences," Healthcare IT News (January 21, 2010).
