Dive Brief:
- Despite changes to the programs' timeline which extend key deadlines, IT experts say that a growing number of physicians are choosing to drop out of the Meaningful Use program.
- Medical practices are dropping out in part because the penalties for failing to meet Stage 2 requirements aren't onerous, and the rewards for succeeding can only be obtained with a great deal of effort.
- Penalties for failing to achieve Stage 2 of Meaningful Use for an average family physician receiving about $100,000 annually in Medicare reimbursements in 2014 would be only about $1,000 in 2015, and only rise to about $6,000 by 2017.
Dive Insight:
It seems we have a case of questionable program design here. If the federal government really wants to use a "carrot and stick" approach to getting medical practices using EMRs in a sophisticated way, both the rewards and the penalties have to be proportionate to the effort involved. Obviously, that doesn't seem to be the case here. The Obama administration had best do something quick about this rapid falloff of physicians from the MU program; losing any further momentum at this stage could be disastrous for the program's future.