Since 2009, providers have been working to snag federal incentive payments designed to encourage "meaningful" use of electronic medical records. The Meaningful Use program, which put a great deal of pressure on hospitals and medical practices alike, has paid off big for some providers but has also served as a major source of frustration as well. Despite good-faith efforts to stay abreast of government requirements, providers have struggled to do so, with medical practices in particular finding it very difficult to keep up with Meaningful Use demands.
At long last, however, it seems that the agency driving the MU program — The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT — has decided that it's time to retool how they judge providers' EMR adoption progress. According to a piece in iHealthBeat, the office is planning to change how the Meaningful Use program works, changing its focus from demanding a specific set of clinical quality data to focus more on broader quality improvement. While ONC's chief medical officer and deputy national coordinator Jacob Reider admits that this won't be easy to pull off, he said that he sees it as "very important" to make changes.
I'm not going to say that this is too little, too late — some providers have managed to be successful under the current regime — but this policy shift is long overdue. After years of sticking to an awkward status quo, it's time to address providers' concerns and focus on quality rather than demanding documentation.
In particular, it's time to take doctors' needs into account.
The fact remains that many doctors have dropped out of the program of late, with physician EMR adoption sitting at 61% as of March. That's nothing to email home about, given that it doesn't resemble anything like universal adoption. What's more, EMR vendors have been unable to keep up with mounting Meaningful Use requirements, stranding physicians who want to comply with Stage 2 of the program.
So it's definitely time to embrace change. At present, the ONC doesn't know exactly what a revamped Meaningful Use program would look like, but it will probably focus on "measurement and improvement and away from measures and standards," Reider told a professional gathering. Getting there will take some time, Reider concedes.
In the meantime, ONC leaders need to accept the seriousness of the existing situation. As health IT blogger John Lynn notes in EMRandEHR.com, many doctors, hospitals and vendors have been preparing to step away from Meaningful Use Stage 2, even if it means opting out of Medicare or absorbing the penalties imposed for dropping out of the program. The bottom line is that ONC should have realized the situation was getting out of hand some time ago. At least now, it seems the agency is listening.