The "Party of No" continues its unrelenting assault on anything the current administration does, and its latest victim is the final meaningful use criteria. Really.
For those who assailed President Obama for pushing EHR adoption because it is more government where no government should insert itself, guess who first introduced the vision of having every American with an EHR? It was President George W. Bush back in his state of the union speech in 2004. Obama agreed with his predecessor on this front.
Now U.S. House Republicans are saying the final rule is so watered down it won't reduce waste or improve care as it was intended to do. The general consensus from many in the healthcare industry is that the final rule is fair and will enable providers to achieve meaningful use of health IT. We're talking about a cross-section of organizations, hospitals, associations and other industry experts who believe the criteria will help improve patient safety and care, and make the system more efficient and therefore drive out waste.
Whom do you trust? The leaders in the industry who are in the trenches? Or the ones who likely have a partisan issue?
Let's try to keep politics out of trying to improve the healthcare industry. With so many issues plaguing the industry, from demand outstripping supply to inefficiencies and waste, why are we not attacking these problems in a bipartisan way? Why sabotage the efforts of so many healthcare experts and organizations who are trying to improve how our country delivers healthcare? Come to the table with solutions and the spirit of collaboration, not partisan bickering. There's too-much at stake to insert political poison. Come to the table with the focus solely on delivering the best care for the patient.
Photo via irrational_cat courtesy of Creative Commons license.
