The American Medical Association praised CMS' decision to extend the meaningful use deadline for physicians but called for further amendments to the requirements.
After CMS announced the extension of the deadline of the 2014 EHR incentive attestation for eligible professionals to March 20, the AMA voiced concern that only a quarter of physicians had attested meaningful use by the beginning of February. The association has repeatedly said meaningful use requirements demand too much of physicians and they must be relaxed.
"The deadline extension underscores that the meaningful use program is not working and that policymakers need to act on our recommendations to make it more flexible, remove the measures that physicians are having the most difficulty in meeting and revamp the certification program so that electronic health record vendors can innovate to create products that better serve patients and physicians," wrote Steven J. Stack, MD, president-elect of the AMA, in the statement.