CHIME Seeks Delay for Stage 2 of EHR Meaningful Use Program
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives is calling on federal officials to let health care providers assess their progress under Stage 1 of the meaningful use program before moving forward with Stage 2, Health Data Management reports.
Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments (Goedert, Health Data Management, 2/18).
CHIME outlined its position in a letter sent to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
The letter said that it would be unwise to move on to the next stage of the meaningful use program until at least 30% of health care providers who are aiming to participate in the program have qualified for the incentive payments (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 2/18). According to CHIME, allowing health care providers to gauge their compliance with Stage 1 requirements would achieve a balance between the push to meet meaningful use rules and the recognition that some health care providers will have difficulty qualifying for the incentive payments.
The letter stated that "unreasonable expectations could end up discouraging EHR adoption if providers conclude that it will be essentially impossible for them to qualify for incentives" (Health Data Management, 2/18).
Specifically, CHIME said that the core set would be identical to the Stage 1 set, allowing for a boost in compliance levels for some measures. It added that the menu set should contain new measures unique to Stage 2 (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 2/18).
Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments (Goedert, Health Data Management, 2/18).
Details of CHIME's Position
The letter said that it would be unwise to move on to the next stage of the meaningful use program until at least 30% of health care providers who are aiming to participate in the program have qualified for the incentive payments (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 2/18). According to CHIME, allowing health care providers to gauge their compliance with Stage 1 requirements would achieve a balance between the push to meet meaningful use rules and the recognition that some health care providers will have difficulty qualifying for the incentive payments.
The letter stated that "unreasonable expectations could end up discouraging EHR adoption if providers conclude that it will be essentially impossible for them to qualify for incentives" (Health Data Management, 2/18).
Recommendations for Core, Menu Sets
For Stage 2, CHIME advocated for keeping a set of required, or core, measures and a set of optional, or menu, measures that health care providers can choose from to demonstrate compliance with meaningful use rules. This recommendation is similar to the structure of Stage 1.
Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/2/18/chime-seeks-delay-for-stage-2-of-ehr-meaningful-use-program.aspx#ixzz1EiR78zvn
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