New Medicare electronic health record (EHR) “meaningful use” requirements should be phased in gradually, the Pennsylvania Medical Society wrote to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ HIT Policy Committee.
The committee is developing definitions of how medical practices can make meaningful use of EHR, which will be required to receive Medicare payment bonuses beginning in 2011. These incentives will be phased out in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, payments will be reduced for medical practices that are not meaningful users.
There are too many objectives and measures that must be met in 2011, wrote Denise Zimmerman, the Medical Society’s executive vice president and CEO.
“We believe that the high bar set for meaningful use in 2011 may actually discourage adoption. Therefore, we urge the HIT Policy Committee to recommend a more gradual implementation of measures through 2015,” Zimmerman wrote.
Not all EHR systems have fields for measures that would be required to be reported in 2011. Physicians with older systems whose vendors choose not to become certified by Medicare would have difficulty extracting data and reporting on these measures.
The letter also notes that the Society has concerns with the following:
- A 2011 goal that requires physicians to report the percentage of patients that have access to personal health records (PHR) since PHRs are not now widely used
- A 2011 goal that medication reconciliation take place at each appointment since some EHR systems either do not flag this event or employ ambiguous indicators
- A 2011 goal of providing “patient-specific” educational resources should be clarified
View the proposed meaningful use objectives on the
HHS website.