To the great relief of many who have called for a pause on the federal Meaningful Use program, the Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee announced today it will ask the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to delay Stage 3. 

Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said that will be one of several recommendations the HELP committee will make to the Obama administration. The committee held several hearings in recent months to learn more about the challenges clinicians face when using EHRs and other information technology in healthcare. Many testified about the cost and inefficiency of EHRs as well as information blocking practices of numerous stakeholders.

The directives are intentionally being drafted as regulations that can be implemented by HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell via rule-making versus legislation for quicker adoption. 

“We want to keep going forward [with the adoption of EHRs], no one wants to turn back,” Alexander said.

"Meaningful Use Stages 1 and 2 created an important foundation," said John Halamka, MD, MS, CIO of Partners HealthCare in Boston. "Only now is the private sector catching up from the backlog of deferred work. At the same time, the Argonaut Project is accelerating interoperability. A delay in MU Stage 3 would actually improve adoption and innovation."