HITPC: ONC provides update on MU, including exceptions

The rate of health IT adoption among U.S. hospitals has more than doubled over the past two years and over 9 in 10 hospitals possess certified EHR technology, according to Jennifer King, PhD, researcher with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

King presented the results of the American Hospital Association’s 2013 survey during the May 6 Health IT Policy Committee meeting.  

Only 10 percent reported having all of the view, download and transmit capabilities, with transmit having the lowest rate. About 13 percent have the ability for patients to submit patient-generated data. About 6 in 10 had 13 or more Meaningful Use Stage 2 objectives. A look at different types of hospitals reveals that critical-access and small rural hospitals have adopted fewer functionalities with about 20 percent having adopted 15 core objectives compared with 40 percent of larger hospitals.

“We expect that as providers upgrade to the 2014 edition we’ll see strong growth in a lot of these capabilities,” King said.

She said the survey revealed few differences in certification status by hospital characteristics which shows that “disparities are narrowing.”

King said that 178 inpatient vendors who have a 2011 edition certified product do not have a 2014 edition certified product. Most of those (142) never had products used for attestation from 2011 to 2013 and 36 had their products used for attestation from 2011 to 2-13 but have not yet certified to the 2014 edition.

Elisabeth Myers, policy and outreach lead at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, discussed the latest Meaningful Use numbers during the meeting. The incentive program had 12,000 new registrants in March, she said, for a total of more than 310,000 eligible professionals (EPs) to date. Twenty-four percent of participating EPs are now meaningful users.

Just under 95 percent of eligible hospitals (EHs) have registered for the program, she said, which is “a good measure of awareness and scope and the beginning of readiness.” Almost 91 percent of hospitals and about 68 percent of EPs have been paid. 64,000 new participants attested for the new reporting period.

As of May 1, Myers said 225 EPs attested for the 2014 reporting year—61 are new participants and 50 attested to Stage 2. Of the 30 EHs that attested, 8 are new and 4 have attested to Stage 2.

In response to the option ONC announced earlier this year that EHs and EPs could apply for a hardship exception, 72 EHs applied for the exception for the 2013 reporting year, Myers said. Of those, 66 exceptions were granted based on the documentation provided. The other six were not rejected but dismissed as they don’t need to apply this year. Six hundred EPs have applied to date and the deadline is July 1.