This week in health IT: Spotlight on Stage 2
2014 is a big year for Meaningful Use (MU) but many healthcare providers are scrambling to meet Stage 2 requirements.
In fact, a survey released this week found that few healthcare providers have adopted an EHR that would meet the requirements of MU Stage 2.
The National Center for Health Statistics released the newest edition of the annual National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, conducted between February 2013 and June 2013, included 10,302 randomly selected physicians.
Sixty-nine percent of physicians surveyed said they intended to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid EHR incentive programs. However, only 13 percent of office-based physicians said they intend to participate in the program and had an EHR system with the capabilities to meet 14 of the 17 Stage 2 core set objectives. Almost 12 percent of respondents said they do not plan to participate in MU.
Vendors are working to meet their customers’ needs and another survey helps pinpoint the biggest challenges.
The clinical summary measurement, the required security risk analysis and patient smoking status reporting are the top MU challenges, according to a study published in Medical Care, the Journal of the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association.
The study is the first nationwide assessment of MU challenges and is based on data collected from 55 regional extension centers throughout 2012, reporting more than 19,000 issues from more than 43,000 providers. Others issues noted were provider engagement, vendor selection, administrative practices issues, delays in implementation/installation and practice workflow adoption.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.