Tennessee Joins List of States Forbidding Laboratory EHR Donations

Nice post over at The Pathology Blawg on EHR donations in Tennessee and recent comments from that state’s attorney general regarding labs making EHR donations to clients:

The questions is “…[M]ay a clinical laboratory licensed by the State of Tennessee lawfully make a monetary donation to a physician to cover up to 85% of the cost of software designed to manage the physician’s electronic health records (EHR) when the physician’s office that receives the EHR donation either continues an existing referral arrangement with the donating laboratory or subsequently initiates an arrangement for referral of specimens to the donating laboratory for analysis?”

The Attorney General’s answer was:

No.

The decision also brings up the fact the federal safe harbor provision for EHR donation by laboratories does not supersede Tennessee law.  And this is true for other states as well.  In fact, according to the CAP, opinions have been handed down in Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and West Virginia that forbid EHR donations.

Read the entire post and follow up stories on this @ The Pathology Blawg.