Another group calls for a slow down for Stage 3

The Health Information and Management Systems Society EHR Association (EHRA) called on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to develop Meaningful Use Stage 3 requirements that build off work accomplished during Stages 1 and 2.

“The EHRA strongly recommends that Stage 3 focus on encouraging and assisting providers to take advantage of the substantial capabilities established in Stage 1 and especially Stage 2, rather than adding new Meaningful Use requirements and product certification criteria,” the group wrote in its comment. “In particular, we believe that any Meaningful Use and functionality changes should focus on interoperability and building on accelerated momentum and more extensive use of Stage 2 capabilities.”

The EHRA believes EHR certification criteria for Stage 2 calls for robust capabilities and that Stage 3 of Meaningful Use should start no earlier than three years after the start of Stage 2 to allow vendors and providers time to develop and implement technology. The group also believed that Stage 2 introduced too many additional measure requirements and that ONC should continue working with other federal agencies and stakeholders to refine and align existing measures.

“Given the breadth and depth of the Meaningful Use rules, the quality measurement criteria and associated certification requirements, providers and vendors are finding that meeting specific Meaningful Use requirements is squeezing out other customer-desired functionality changes and developer innovation, including areas related to usability and accountable care,” the letter concluded.

Read the complete response at the HIMSS website.