The letter also proposes that the decision support tools to provide drug allergy and drug-to-drug alerts--proposed for 2011--be functions added in 2013 instead, along with other functions including nursing documentation and assessments; electronic access by pharmacists to formularies; medication bar coding; implementing drug-drug, drug-allergy, and drug-formulary checks; maintaining active medication lists; and maintaining active medication allergy lists.

The AHA concludes the letter by noting that the expected release of a final definition will be past the 2010 budget cycle for most hospitals. This, the AHA says, makes the definition proposed for 2011 unmanageable. "A rush to implement the draft definition, combined with the lack of capital and personnel," the letter states, "could result in many hospitals choosing not to, or being unable to, participate in the incentive program. For those that do, this aggressive schedule could threaten patient safety and quality of care as hospitals are forced to shift to a mere technical implementation of technology rather than the more methodical process of implementing HIT system changes along with care process and cultural changes needed for a successful HIT adoption and use."


Based on the letter from the AHA to David Blumenthal.

Link: http://www.aha.org/aha/letter/2009/090626-cl-hit-meaningful-use.pdf


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