Medical Societies Urge HHS to Delay Drafting Stage 3 Meaningful Use Criteria

The American Academy of Family Physicians, American Medical Association and other medical societies have written letters urging HHS to postpone drafting stage 3 standards for meaningful use of electronic health record systems until it studies how the stage 1 criteria have worked in physician offices, according to a Medscape Medical News report.

To meet stage 1 meaningful use requirements, physicians must transmit prescriptions electronically and record demographic information as structured data if they want to earn a bonus under Medicare or Medicaid. Stage 2 requirements that are even tougher will come into effect in 2014 for physicians who have enacted stage 1 for at least two years beforehand.

Stage 3 criteria are expected to come into effect in 2016, but physicians want to stretch the timeline. The societies cite several reasons to support their request including the need for time to build the digital infrastructure that will permit EHR systems to freely exchange patient data with each other that is set to begin in stage 2.

The societies also have concerns with the proposed requirements for stage 3 set out by HHS. The biggest concern for physicians is that stage 3 emphasizes EHR functions and processes at the expense of demonstrating improvements in patient outcomes, according to the report.

Medical Societies Urge HHS to Delay Drafting Stage 3 Meaningful Use Criteria

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