Dive Brief:
- Less than 33 percent of office-based providers using complete EHRs managed to reach the rigorous Stage 2 requirements last year.
- One part of Stage 2 requires physicians to attest that 5 percent of their patients have used EHRs to view, download or transfer their records. Dr. Steven Waldren, director of the AAFP Alliance for eHealth Innovation, said that this rule is causing many physicians to switch to Stage 1 or drop out of the program.
- Waldren said other factors lead to decreased participation, including upgrade costs, followed by difficulty having the system delivered by vendors and installed in their practices.
Dive Insight:
CMS delayed the compliance date by a year in May 2014 for early program participants to meet Stage 2 requirements. But, 62 percent of providers are still in Stage 1 four years into the program. Epic Systems had close to 36,350 physicians use the company's software to meet Stage 2 requirements last year -- representing more than half of ambulatory-care providers able to attest at Stage 2 in that category, according to CMS and HHS databases.
The Federal EHR incentive payment program, started in 2009, has paid $12.5 billion to physicians and other eligible professionals to buy and meaningfully use EHRs, and hospitals have received close to $18.6 billion, according to the latest program information from CMS.