Dive Brief:
- According to Fierce EMR, the Massachusetts House in its fiscal year 2015 budget proposal recommends easing health IT requirements in the state's medical licensure process.
- The current rules, which are part of a larger state law aimed at addressing health care costs and transparency, require health care providers to demonstrate proficiency in several forms of health IT, including EMRs, e-prescribing and computerized provider order entry.
- The new budget proposal recommends scaling back the requirement so that doctors must only show they are familiar with the use of EMRs for patient care, FierceEMR reports.
Dive Insight:
Not surprisingly, the Massachusetts Medical Society has come out strongly in favor of relaxing state health IT requirements for licensure. The MMS writes that the new rules would "prevent disenfranchising more than 10,000 physicians who, by law or other circumstance, cannot achieve meaningful use certification." The Society said it's going to push the state Senate to include similar language in its budget recommendations.