In a recently published report, the congressional watchdog Government Accountability Office (GAO) criticized the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for failing to effectively promote the electronic exchange of health information and the use of electronic health records (EHR) in post-acute care settings.
According to the GAO's report, failed coordination of care between the acute- and post-acute care settings results in the duplication of tests and procedures, medication and other errors, and billions of dollars in waste. HHS had previously recognized that employing health information technology, such as EHRs, would facilitate the transfer of information between providers and improve the quality of care, and had promised to put forth efforts to increase the use of EHRs in the post-acute care setting. However, in its report, the GAO accused HHS of failing to set forth a comprehensive plan to achieve this goal and called on HHS to establish metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of its key efforts in this regard.
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