Despite pleas from doctors and demands from lawmakers, the Obama administration will push ahead on the next stage of a maligned incentive program for electronic health records.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released final rules for the third stage of its meaningful use electronic health records program, hoping they will add flexibility for doctors.
The agencies decided to release the final rule instead of delaying the third stage of the program. Providers can adopt third-stage requirements starting in 2017, but must adopt it by 2018.
The third stage requires providers to use electronic records to improve health outcomes of patients.
Officials said they decided against a delay because it couldn’t separate out parts of the expansive rewards program. The third stage is the final one in the program.
The administration hopes to provide additional flexibility and address provider complaints through the new rules. For instance, the agency gives providers more flexibility if they want to change their electronic health records system.
“Providers are encouraged to apply for hardship exceptions if they need to switch or have other technology difficulties with their EHR vendor,” CMS said.
The goal is to enable providers to find the system “that meets their needs,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, CMS deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer.
Doctors and hospitals had complained that it is difficult to meet the program’s requirements, which include incorporating electronic records into everyday practice. The program, which can dole out up to $60,000 in financial rewards, has been in the second stage since 2014.
CMS also took heat from a prominent senator over the program. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said during a hearing last week that rushing the third stage would make it harder for providers to comply with the requirements.
Alexander said on Tuesday that the administration “has a tin ear,” and ignored his call for a delay.
“They’ve missed a golden opportunity to develop bipartisan support in Congress and throughout the country for an electronic health records system that would genuinely help patients,” the senator said in a statement. “Instead, they’ve rushed ahead with a rule against the advice of some of the nation’s leading medical institutions and physicians.”
Alexander wasn’t alone. Last week more than 100 House lawmakers sent a letter to the administration also urging a delay.
