Change is good?

The Meaningful Use program is in the limelight again with the debate about its success continuing.

Despite low numbers of successful attestation for Stage 2, during the last Health IT Policy Committee meeting federal officials reported strong retention rates for hospitals.

Only 3-4 percent of the 4,993 U.S. hospitals have not registered or participated in the MU program, according to Dawn Heisey-Grove, public health analyst at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). “The vast majority of eligible hospitals have achieved Meaningful Use or are making progress towards Meaningful Use."

Of the hospitals in the 2011-2013 cohorts, 91 percent of those scheduled for Stage 1 and 89 percent of those scheduled for Stage 2 returned in 2014, she said. “If they skip a year, they are just skipping a year, not dropping out of the program entirely.”

Also, she said most of the 4,200 hospitals scheduled for MU Stage 2 next year are already using 2014 certified EHR technology and 2014 MU definitions.

Despite this so-called success, MU participants have been granted more time to comply with Stage 2 requirements.

Meanwhile, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) has some harsh words for the government and its involvement in health IT’ evolution.  

John Graham, MBA, wrote a commentary about the ONC's 2015-2020 health IT strategic plan, saying, "The attempt to get medical providers to adopt EHRs has proven expensive, unproductive and potentially harmful, leading to the conclusion that the federal government should play a minimal role in guiding HIT over the next decade.”

The Meaningful Use program and incentives may have actually lowered the quality of care, he wrote, and the program is flawed because EHRs hurt providers' productivity and don't provide for data sharing. Graham also noted that the program is not meeting its EHR adoption targets, physicians are dropping out and providers have received payments even though they have not fulfilled their obligations.

Graham advised that the government let health IT evolve without certification or government incentives.

Will this recent extension lead to more timeline changes?

Beth Walsh

Clinical Innovation + Technology editor