42 U.S.C. § 300jj–19a — Electronic health record reporting program

(a) Reporting criteria (1) Not later than 1 year after December 13, 2016, the Secretary had to convene stakeholders, as described in paragraph (2), to develop reporting criteria under paragraph (3). (2) The reporting criteria must be developed through a public, transparent process reflecting input from relevant stakeholders, including: health care providers (primary care and specialty care); hospitals and hospital systems; health IT developers; patients, consumers, and their advocates; data-sharing networks such as health information exchanges; authorized certification bodies and testing laboratories; security experts; relevant medical device manufacturers; experts in health IT market economics; public and private entities that evaluate health IT performance; quality organizations, including the consensus-based entity described in section 1395aaa; experts in human factors engineering and measuring user-centered design; and other entities or individuals the Secretary decides are appropriate. (3) The reporting criteria must include measures reflecting categories such as security, usability and user-centered design, interoperability, conformance to certification testing, and other appropriate categories for measuring EHR performance. They may include categories such as: ordering and viewing lab, imaging, and other diagnostic test results; submitting, editing, and retrieving data from registries like clinician-led clinical data registries; accessing and exchanging information through health information exchanges; accessing and exchanging information from medical devices; accessing and exchanging information held by federal, state, and local agencies and other entities useful for patient care; accessing and exchanging information from other providers or users; accessing and exchanging patient-generated information; giving the patient or an authorized designee a complete copy of their health information in a computable format; providing accurate patient information for the correct patient and avoiding duplicate records; and other appropriate performance or accessibility categories. The criteria must be designed so small and startup health IT developers are not unduly disadvantaged. (4) After the reporting criteria are developed, the Secretary may convene stakeholders and hold a public comment period to modify them. (b) Participation As a condition of keeping certification under section 300jj-11(c)(5)(D), a developer of certified electronic health records must submit, to an appropriate recipient of a grant, contract, or agreement under subsection (c)(1), responses to the criteria developed under subsection (a), covering all of the developer's certified technology. (c) Reporting program (1) Not later than 1 year after December 13, 2016, the Secretary had to award grants, contracts, or agreements to independent entities on a competitive basis to convene stakeholders under subsection (a)(2), collect the reported information, develop and run the process required by paragraph (5), and report the information to the Secretary. (2) An independent entity seeking such an award must submit an application describing: its proposed method for reviewing and summarizing gathered information; if applicable, its intended focus on a specific subset of certified EHR technology users (such as certain providers, hospitals, or patients and consumers); its plan for widely distributing reports; the requested grant period, up to 2 years; and its budget, including whether it intends to continue after the award period ends. (3) In awarding these grants, contracts, and agreements, the Secretary must give priority to independent entities with appropriate expertise in health IT usability, interoperability, and security - especially expertise in electronic health records - regarding providers (including primary care, specialty care, and rural care), hospitals and hospital systems, and patients, consumers, and their advocates. (4)(A) Not later than 4 years after December 13, 2016, and every 2 years after that, the Secretary, consulting with stakeholders, must assess recipients' performance based on the quality and usability of their reports, and re-determine grants, contracts, and agreements as necessary. (B) The Secretary may not award a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under paragraph (1) to a proprietor of certified health IT or its business affiliate, to a developer of certified health IT, or to a state or local government agency. (5) Based on the reporting criteria, recipients must develop and run a process to collect and verify confidential feedback on those criteria from health care providers, patients, and other users of certified EHR technology, and from developers of that technology. (6)(A) Each recipient must report on the information it received under subsection (a) and the feedback collected under paragraph (5), by preparing summary reports and detailed reports. (B) Each recipient must submit those reports to the Secretary for public distribution under subsection (d). (d) Publication The Secretary must widely distribute, as appropriate, and publish on the Office of the National Coordinator's website: the reporting criteria developed under subsection (a), and the summary and detailed reports under subsection (c)(6). (e) Review Each recipient must develop and run a process letting participating EHR technology developers review and recommend changes to the reports about their own products, before those reports are published under subsection (d). (f) Additional resources The Secretary may provide additional resources on the Office of the National Coordinator's website to better inform consumers of health information technology. This work may be carried out through partnerships with private organizations with appropriate expertise.