In March, HHS released the proposed rules for meaningful use Stage 3, which is expected to be the final stage of the federal EHR incentive program. However, the requirements for successful attestation to Stage 3 may not be feasible for many providers, rendering the incentive program meaningless, according to an article in U.S. News & World Report written by Niam Yaraghi, PhD, a fellow in the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation.
Stage 3 of meaningful use requires providers to send electronic summaries for 50 percent of patients they refer to others and receive summaries for 40 percent of patients that are referred to them. Additionally, providers must reconcile past patient data with current reports for 80 percent of referred patients.
This means that a provider's success in attesting to meaningful use depends on other providers sending them the necessary 40 percent of summaries for patients referred to them, according to Dr. Yaraghi. "That is, if other providers do not send electronic summaries, the medical provider who was supposed to receive them will fail to meet the second and third requirement."
Dr. Yaraghi writes the likelihood of this scenario occurring is very high, as approximately 25 percent of providers have attested to meaningful use stage 2, which requires sending care summaries for at least 50 percent of care transitions and referrals.
"This tech-savvy minority is already sharing a large portion of their patients with other providers who were not able to meet the second stage of meaningful use, and thus are likely unable to send electronic care summaries," Dr. Yaraghi writes. "This leads to a situation in which even tech-savvy providers will not be able to fulfill the requirements of the third stage of the meaningful use program, regardless of their intentions and efforts."
Additionally, Dr. Yaraghi suggests meaningful use does not consider the characteristic differences of care providers across the country, each operating in unique environments and with varying degrees of willingness to share information. "Ignoring the differences among medical providers and simply requiring all of them to attest to the same measures is not a smart policy," he writes.
More articles on meaningful use:
20 things to know about meaningful use
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