Followup to "CMS does not have any information that supports or refutes claims that a broader adoption of EHRs can save lives"

At my April 16, 2014 post "CMS does not have any information that supports or refutes claims that a broader adoption of EHRs can save lives" (http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2014/04/cms-does-not-have-any-information-that.html) I noted that the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) had received a reply from CMS to a FOIA request that:

"We [CMS] do not have any information that supports or refutes claims that a broader adoption of EHRs can save lives."

Put another way, the country is embarking on a $1 trillion healthcare experiment, and blindly.

I mentioned I'd post the letter when received from AAPS.  That just occurred.

The letter is below (click to enlarge):

CMS: "we do not have any information that supports or refutes claims that a broader adoption of EHRs can save lives."  [But let's spend hundreds of billions of dollars anyway.]  Click to enlarge.

I've added it as an addendum to the original post, but thought it worthwhile to call out the letter in a post of its own to those who might not revisit the original.

An additional thought:

While CMS may "not have any information that supports or refutes claims that a broader adoption of EHRs can save lives", they do have (or should have made it their business to have) information that EHRs cause harm and take lives (e.g., via FDA at http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/08/smoking-gun-internal-fda-memorandum-of.html , ECRI at http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/02/peering-underneath-icebergs-water-level.html and others).

-- SS