How McKesson is Supporting Stimulus

From cities across America to the halls of Washington, McKesson has built working relationships with elected and appointed officials at every level of government. We were one of the first healthcare information technology (HIT) companies to engage in the HIT and EHR discussion with President Obama’s transition team and provide recommendations for HIT spending.

Since the stimulus legislation became law, there’s been a flurry of activity, as two federal advisory committees - the Health IT Policy and the Health IT Standards Committees - have taken steps to define meaningful use and certification requirements.

McKesson continues to represent our customers’ interests, participating in every Health IT Policy and Health IT Standards Committee meeting to date. We are committed to completing the upgrades and implementations necessary to help customers achieve readiness and benefit from stimulus incentives.

We will continue to work with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to understand and support our customers’ efforts toward achieving meaningful use of certified EHRs.

Want to learn more about McKesson’s involvement? Read:

• McKesson’s comments and feedback on the initial meaningful use definitions, July 2009
• McKesson’s recommendations to the Obama Administration on health IT investment

The Situation

A decade ago, the Institute of Medicine’s To Err is Human report shocked the nation and the healthcare industry, publicly highlighting the 98,000 deaths that occur each year due to avoidable medical errors. Today, the statistics are not much improved. The IOM still estimates that at least 1.5 million preventable medication errors cause harm in the U.S. and cost $3.5 billion each year.

A key recommendation from the Institute of Medicine:
More effective use of healthcare information technology to improve the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of patient care. While many organizations have made great strides implementing HIT solutions, others have been hindered by financial constraints.

The Solution

With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the federal government has put muscle – and money — behind making electronic health records (EHR) systems a reality for every healthcare practitioner.

Specifically, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) section (H.R. 1-113) of the ARRA bill contains $19.2 billion in incentives for implementing EHR systems and other HIT.

But this landmark legislation is not about implementing technology for technology’s sake. It’s about promoting the “meaningful use” of EHRs to connect care settings and providers so patients receive better, safer care. It’s about using the power of HIT to improve efficiency, reduce costs and ultimately, to expand access to healthcare services for all Americans.

Hospitals and physician practices that do not adopt EHRs will incur financial penalties – in the form of reduced Medicare and Medicaid payments – beginning in 2015.

How to Secure Stimulus Funding

To secure funding, care providers must:

1. Improve quality, safety and efficiency while reducing health disparities
2. Engage patients and families
3. Improve care coordination
4. Improve population and public health
5. Ensure adequate privacy and security protections for personal health information

Three Ways McKesson Can Help You

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