CONGRESS TAKES STEPS TO DELAY MEANINGFUL USE STAGE 3

Republican Congresswoman Renee Ellmers introduced her Further Flexibility in HIT Reporting and Advancing Interoperability Act (Flex IT 2 Act), which would provide more flexibility in the Meaningful Use program and ensure EHR systems address interoperability challenges. The bill would pause Stage 3 rulemaking to align it with technology advancements and the new merit-based incentive payment system.

"This important bill addresses many of the fundamental shortcomings in government regulations that have made many EHR systems very difficult to use," AMA President Steven J. Stack, M.D., said in a statement. "We heard loud and clear from physicians at the AMA’s first-ever town hall meeting on EHRs and the Meaningful Use program that the systems they use are cumbersome, poorly designed and unable to ‘talk’ to each other thereby preventing necessary transmission of patient medical information."

The U.S. Congress may step in to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) electronic health record (EHR) meaningful use program, with both chambers taking action on the third and final stage of the program. The action in Congress comes just days after the AMA’s town hall meeting on EHRs and the Meaningful Use program, held with the Medical Association of Georgia. About 75 Atlanta-area physicians attended the event last week, which was live-streamed to about 400 registrants. Physicians discussed their everyday challenges with EHRs and burdensome government regulations that detract from patient care.

MD Logic, the leading U.S. provider in high performance EHR solutions, engineers our software to not only comply with Meaningful Use mandates but to make complying with these mandates quick and efficient. Physicians that implement the MD Logic EHR software experience an increase in efficiency as they comply with Meaningful Use mandates. Thomas J. Bierster, Jr., CEO of MD Logic, Inc., stated “the problem with Meaningful Use certification is that it only confirms a system can comply with mandates but does not measure the efficiency in complying with these mandates. What good is adopting an EHR that will result in fewer patients seen each day in clinic and reduced annual earnings for the physicians?”

“When the federal government made the decision to advance healthcare by providing financial incentives to physicians that adopted certified EHR technology they only made things worse. Most physicians did not take the time to research EHR systems assuming that all EHR systems are pretty much the same. Physicians used the financial incentives provided by meaningful use to simply buy an EHR but not necessarily a productive EHR.

“The Stage I Meaningful Use financial incentives encouraged hundreds of new companies to quickly jump into the EHR market and chase the money being given away by federal government. When Meaningful Use Stage II became mandatory, more than 60% of these new EHR companies failed to comply and closed for business. This has left many physicians scrambling to get their data and convert to another EHR company. Engineering a productive EHR takes time with years and years of hands-on experience and feedback from physician customers to create a time-tested solution.

“If it was my decision I would not delay Meaningful Use Stage III. I do not believe Meaningful Use has made a positive impact on improving patient care but instead has only incentified physicians to implement EHR technology. Physicians using a non-productive EHR will need to change their EHR eventually. By delaying MU III, these physicians will continue to struggle with their non-productive EHR, see fewer patients in clinic each day and continue the trend of reduced annual earnings. Moving forward with MU III would encourage physicians to adopt "proven technology" that will increase efficiency, reduce overhead and maximize profitability.”

To learn how your clinic can benefit from the MD Logic EHR/PM solutions contact our corporate office at 800-273-7750.