that were part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA PL. 111- 5), included funding to hospitals and independent physician practice associations for improved health information technology services such as the introduction of electronic health records (EHRs) into respective health providers. However, several health disciplines, such as aging service providers, were not eligible to receive grants. AJAS will vigorously support efforts that will lead to the eligibility of providers of long-term services and supports. Addressing the Health Needs of an Aging America | 35 Appendix B: Results Addressing the Health Needs of an Aging America | 36 • American Healthcare Association: To provide HIT funding to long term & post-acute settings comparable to the support acute & ambulatory care settings receive, plus direct the HHS Secretary to use discretionary funding to promote HIT adoption by long term & post-acute care providers. • American Healthcare Association: AHCA/NCAL applauds the provisions in the Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health (HITECH) Act included in the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, now Public Law 111-5), which promote HIT adoption. Unfortunately, the HITECH Act leaves out long term and post-acute care providers. AHCA/NCAL urges Congress to remedy this oversight by providing comparable support for HIT adoption by long term and post-acute care as was a orded to providers in acute and ambulatory care settings. In the meantime, the Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) should use discretionary funding, perhaps from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMI), to promote HIT in long term and post-acute care settings. • LeadingAge: We support the Fostering Independence Through Technology(FITT) Act (S. 596) to promote Medicare savings through home health agencies’ use of technology. • Vedel, S. Akhlaghpour, I. Vaghefi, et al.(2013). Health information technologies in geriatrics and gerontology: a mixed systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 20(6), 1109-19 Development incentives for providers • American Hospital Association: The limited exception to the Stark law and the anti-kickback law safe harbor that permit hospitals to assist physicians in developing EHRs will expire Dec. 31, 2013. These regulatory provisions should be extended beyond the current expiration date. • American Academy of Physician Assistants: The American Academy of Physician Assistants recommends that section 4201(a)(3)(B) of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act be amended to extend the EHR Medicaid incentive payment to all physician assistants whose patient volume includes at least 30 percent Medicaid recipients. • Bipartisan Policy Center: Assure health IT investments support electronic information sharing to meet the needs of new delivery and payment models- HHS should provide implementation support for such information sharing, with a particular focus on the needs of small physician practices and community hospitals. Meaningful use • Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations: Include explicit alignment with HITECH meaningful use requirements. The HITECH Act provides incentives for hospitals and physicians to achieve “meaningful use of certified electronic health records.” There is great potential for health information technology to improve communication and quality for underserved populations. Accordingly, we support the explicit alignment of the requirements for Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs with the meaningful use requirements. • American Hospital Association: The Stage 2 final rules also assess penalties for those who do not meet the meaningful use standards. By law, penalties begin in FY 2015; howAddressing the Health Needs of an Aging America | 36 Addressing the Health Needs of an Aging America | 37 ever, CMS will instead base penalties on whether hospitals met the meaningful use requirements two years earlier, or 15 months earlier for those attesting to meaningful use for the first time. The AHA strongly believes this unfairly accelerates the timeframe under which hospitals must meet meaningful use to avoid