In letters sent to 10 health IT companies, Sen. Chuck Grassley says that he has "received complaints" about systems that allow doctors to enter medical orders by computer. Grassley asks the companies to send him copies of "complaints and/or concerns" that healthcare providers have expressed about the systems. He also wants to know whether the companies typically include legal provisions in their contracts that "shift responsibility for errors in the . . . systems to physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers." The federal stimulus bill provides billions of dollars in federal incentives to encourage doctors and hospitals to start using these sorts of systems, the Wall Street Journal Health Blog notes.
