A major element of the national healthcare-reform legislation now being considered in Congress is the introduction of health-information technologies, particularly those that support portable electronic health records (EHRs). On November 10, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) introduced legislation that would authorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) to guarantee loans to some healthcare small businesses-including O&P practices-to purchase health information technology that supports EHRs.
The Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act of 2009 (S 2765), introduced on November 10, would require the federal government to guarantee up to 90 percent of a loan for information technology that includes EHRs records. The maximum loan amount would be $350,000 for an individual practice and $2 million for a group practice, with a national maximum of $10 billion in loans overall.
Section 44 of the bill specifies that the purchased technology must provide for “(I) enhancement of continuity of care for patients through electronic storage, transmission, and exchange of relevant personal health data and information, such as ensuring that this information is accessible at the times and places where clinical decisions will be or are likely to be made; (II) enhancement of communication between patients and health care providers; (III) improvement of quality measurement by eligible professionals enabling the eligible professionals to collect, store, measure, and report on the processes and outcomes of individual and population performance and quality of care; (IV) improvement of evidence-based decision support; or (V) enhancement of consumer and patient empowerment.” It specifies that eligible technology does not include that which is intended solely for financial management, inventory, and/or appointment scheduling, and that the technology must meet EHR use requirements, which will be determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services at an unspecified future date.
Loan repayment under the bill would automatically be deferred between one and three years, and lenders would be barred from imposing service fees, processing fees, origination fees, application fees, points, brokerage fees, bonus points, or other fees for such loans. Guarantee fees would be limited to two percent of the total guaranteed portion of the loan, and lenders would incur an annual servicing fee of up to 0.5 percent of the outstanding balance of the guaranteed portion of the loan.
Health Data Management has reported that this bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and that similar legislation was recently approved by the House of Representatives as part of HR 3854, an amendment to the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958.
