ACP: MU timeline is too aggressive

When it comes to the Meaningful Use (MU) incentive program, the American College of Physicians (ACP) cautioned that the compliance timeline is overly aggressive and that the program’s objectives are too ambitious.

ACP recommended less prescriptive requirements to allow providers of all specialties to apply health IT to the unique characteristics of their practice, specialty and patient populations. In a letter the ACP submitted to federal agencies, the organization made the following points:

• More time is needed for providers to begin reporting on MU Stage 2 measures.
• There is insufficient time for the new e-measures to be tested and validated or for a determination of whether the output of the EHR systems is an accurate representation of the performance of the providers.
• Providers will have a “difficult and frustrating” time in 2014 due to ICD-10, and the fact that providers will need to have a EHR system ready to go on Jan.1, 2014, in order to meet the data collection requirements for the physician quality reporting system (PQRS) and combined PQRS/EHR Incentive reporting using e-measures compounds the stress.
• It supports switching to a scoring system that recognizes the differences in practices and the differences between incentives and penalties and recommends “moving to a partial scoring or tiered system in Stage 2 with a higher score required for an incentive and a lower threshold required to avoid a penalty.”
• It urges a focus on activities that have a true measurable outcome on quality, safety and value of care, rather than a system that adds more administrative burdens.

“ACP supports the guiding principles of Meaningful Use to help physicians deliver quality, patient-centered care,” said Michael S. Barr, MD, MBA, who leads ACP’s division of medical practice, in a statement. “However, the reliance on evolving and draft standards, technologies for which integration is not yet completely tested, developing infrastructure, and upcoming regulatory requirements add complexity and uncertainty for physicians.”

To view the full letter, go here.