Fitzmaurice says his committee has received similar comments from stakeholders throughout the medical community. Say a researcher goes to a doctor looking for information about a patient. Fitzmaurice suggests that some of the worry might be reduced by contracts that indemnify the covered parties. I can't say that there is any perfect solution. I can only say that we've seen the comments, the issue has been raised, and it's very important.
Most concerns relate to the short-term financial burdens of complying with the regulations.
For example, HHS expects that the financial benefits associated with uniform billing, claims processing, and other administrative transactions will exceed the costs of implementing the system within a few years of its existence. We've been working on Version 5.1 for a couple of years, and there aren't any major surprises there. Now we just have to go about implementing it over the next 26 months. We'll have to convert software to conform to the new standards and train staff. Eventually, he predicts, the financial savings realized from fewer administrative hurdles and fees more than make up for the cost.