18 Aug Stage 3 meaningful use: What’s next?
Some providers ‘are really jaded and don’t believe anyone will listen to them’
Stage 3 of meaningful use is shaping up to be the most challenging and detailed level yet for healthcare providers. Among the elements that warrant attention are quality reporting, clinical decision support and security risk analysis.
But first things first: Stage 3 may not be as near final as some would hope, and there are likely to be modifications before a final rule is issued, says Pamela Chapman, implementation specialist with Austin, Texas-based e-MDs.
“We have a long way to go until Stage 3 is finalized and it is my understanding that CMS is not even looking at the public comments yet, so we don’t know what we’ll be looking at,” she said this past month.
One of the new developments of Stage 3 is the decoupling of certification and meaningful use, which have been synonymous in the process to date, Chapman said. With the decoupling, certification becomes modular and not centered around MU, which is “scary,” she says.
“We need to know the criteria and what measures will meet our customers’ needs best,” she said. “We need to know which quality programs will require additional criteria for their programs and there is no way to anticipate that. That is the biggest frustration with the decoupling – which programs will require additional criteria and the timeline to turn it around.”
CMS and ONC are encouraging providers to share their stories in the Stage 3 feedback to the agencies, and relating how regulations impact patients can carry a persuasive influence with policymakers. But Chapman says providers have been reluctant to do so because “they are really jaded and don’t believe anyone will listen to them,” she said.