Meaningful use reactions

The reactions so far to the meaningful use requirements out late last week are mixed.

Among those who are not so pleased is the MGMA, which in a statement called the requirements “overly burdensome” and that practices will “confront significant challenges trying to meet the program requirements.”
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Among the barriers MGMA sites are:
- Unreasonable thresholds for some of the criteria (such as electronic claim submission and electronic insurance eligibility verification
- Potentially difficult meaningful use attestation after the first year
- A requirement that physician offices provide patients with electronic copies of their health records

The American Hospital Association also had some concerns, according to Modern Healthcare.

CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released two highly-anticipated regulations defining the meaningful use of EHRs and setting the criteria for how to receive federal incentives for EHR use.

The requirements will be phased in over three stages between now and 2013, and the first stage focuses on collecting and sharing electronic health data, reporting quality measures, and using EHR data to track conditions and coordinate care. Providers will also be required to provide patients with electronic copies of their medical records.

Our own Trendspotter, Ken Terry, will be writing about this in his column this week, so stay tuned for more.