NAPH Urges Obama Administration to Carefully Craft HIT Incentive Payment Regulations - December 15, 2009

On December 11, NAPH joined with the American Hospital Association, the National Association of Children’s Hospitals, the Federation of American Hospitals, and the Association of American Medical Colleges in sending a letter to the Obama Administration regarding its anticipated health information technology incentive payments rule. The letter addresses the definition of “eligible hospital” and “hospital-based professional.” In particular, the letter urges CMS to avoid using a National Provider Identifier (NPI) or Medicare provider number as the sole criterion to define a hospital, because a definition might disadvantage hospital systems in which multiple hospitals share an NPI or provider number. The letter also urges CMS to adopt regulations that ensure that physicians practicing in hospital outpatient settings are not inappropriately prevented from qualifying for HIT incentive payments.