Criticism of EHR incentive program grows

Meaningful use bashing is no longer just for the healthcare providers and electronic health record (EHR) system developers. Experts who’ve been involved in the creation of the government’s EHR adoption incentive program and other industry watchers are now also calling for changes.

The Health IT Policy Committee's certification/adoption work group is working on a set of changes in how the government certifies vendors’ EHR systems as compliant with its Meaningful Use requirements. With many providers having gotten stuck purchasing EHR systems certified as meeting Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements that then have so far failed to meet Stage 2 requirements, the need to streamline the certification process and make it possible for more EHR system vendors to achieve the key requirements is becoming apparent to everyone.

The changes in the works will reportedly streamline the certification process and restrict the mandatory requirements for certified EHR systems to those that focus on interoperability, clinical quality measures and privacy and security.  They may be announced at the next virtual Health IT Policy Meeting on June 10 or at the next in-person meeting on July 8.

In addition, John Halamka, M.D., the CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and a vice chair of the Office of the National Coordinator’s Health IT Standards Committee, told attendees at the iHT2 Health IT Summit in Boston that of the 19 meaningful use Stage 3 currently proposed recommendations, 80 percent have some sort of workflow, vendor burden or standards readiness issue that will complicate their adoption and do little to directly improve patient outcomes.

According to Healthcare Informatics, Halamka also predicted that 80 percent of hospitals would fail to meet the Stage 2 requirements and there would be a large amount of hardship applications to avoid the penalties for not meeting requirements.

"I love the program, love the ideas. It's too much, too soon," Halamka reportedly said.

Finally, many independent industry watchers are also disappointed. Carl Bergman, a managing partner at EHR comparison website EHRSelector.com, also told FierceEMR that the ONC “screwed up royally” by not making interoperability of systems a primary focus when the meaningful use program’s requirements were first established.

The concerns of those who have been involved in creation of the standards, as well as consultants not directly impacted by the standards, adds credibility to the arguments of organizations like the American Medical Association, which is pushing for a broad range of changes to the program to keep it viable and fair. Last week, the AMA wrote to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo, asking for more than a dozen changes in how the meaningful use program operates. AMA members can read the letter here.