Overnight Healthcare: Feds won’t delay controversial health records rule

The Obama administration is moving ahead with its controversial program requiring doctors to switch to electronic health records or face fees, resisting calls from both parties to delay implementation.

Federal health officials said the final rules released Tuesday will make “significant changes” in the meaningful use electronic health records program, such as lowering the number of standards each provider must meet and allowing providers to apply for hardship exemptions.

{mosads}But the administration will not delay what’s known as “Stage 3” of the program, a move that is already angering vocal Republicans like Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who have repeatedly called for a year’s delay or longer.

“The administration has a tin ear,” Alexander, the chairman of the Senate’s health committee, said in a statement Tuesday. “They’ve missed a golden opportunity to develop bipartisan support in Congress… Instead, they’ve rushed ahead with a rule against the advice of some of the nation’s leading medical institutions and physicians.”

The finalized rule does offer 60 days of additional comment, which would give some extra time for providers, said Dr. Patrick Conway, chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

“We’re getting to the same place with just a different administration method. If additional improvements are needed for Stage 3, we can make those next year,” he told reporters Tuesday.

The changes are intended to make it easier for providers to meet the tougher health IT standards, which were announced in April. Those standards drew fierce opposition from more than 100 lawmakers from both parties, who have CMS to push back its timeline. Read more here. 

PAUL WANTS IG PROBE OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants a government watchdog to investigate all fetal tissue research supported by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the wake of a string of controversial videos targeting Planned Parenthood.

Thirty-four Republican senators signed on to the 2016 GOP presidential candidate’s letter to HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson on Tuesday, writing that the recent allegations that Planned Parenthood mishandled aborted fetal tissue raises “serious concerns about potential violations of federal law prohibiting the transfer of fetal tissue for valuable consideration.”

“The videos not only raise questions about Planned Parenthood’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations, but also highlight potentially significant problems with HHS’s oversight of practices in this market in general,” they added. Read more here.  

WH: MEDICAID EXPANSION CAN HELP STOP GUN VIOLENCE White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday said the GOP’s 2016 presidential field could help fight gun violence by pushing for the expansion of Medicaid.

“We have heard [Republican White House] candidates talk about an openness to work with the administration on gun violence,” he told reporters during the White House’s daily press briefing.

“Many of them talk about improving mental healthcare,” Earnest said. “One of the biggest providers of mental healthcare — especially in disadvantaged communities — is Medicaid.

“For those who say they want to work with the administration in limiting gun violence, we would welcome the support for the Affordable Care Act and expanding Medicaid.” Read more here. 

Wednesday’s schedule

HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell will appear before the House Agriculture Committee for a hearing on the 2015 Dietary Guidelines.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald will appear before the Veterans Affairs Committee to discuss an independent assessment of his department’s Health Administration.

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee will consider NIH funding.

What we’re reading

Editor of Planned Parenthood videos worked on them for nearly a year 

Hillary Clinton’s proposed healthcare changes zero in on affordability

The Cadillac tax, loved by economists and few others

State by state

In Missouri, critics call report on Planned Parenthood ‘incomplete’

Utah governor: Latest Medicaid expansion plan may need changes 

What you might have missed from The Hill

Dems press for subpoena of anti-abortion activist

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