While providers are still grappling with the first stage of meaningful use rules that must be met in order to participate in the government's electronic health records incentive program, officials are already considering what the second stage will look like. Reports have indicated that the next phase will be more stringent, but there is still much debate over the final set of rules.
Recently, the Meaningful Use Workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee met to discuss the second round of guidelines and much of the talk centered on the timetable for implementing stage two, according to Healthcare IT News.
In recent months, the workgroup said they had received calls from vendors and providers to delay the implementation of stage two. However, consumers, health plans and IT advocates have urged the government to press ahead with its timetable for the next stage of meaningful use.
"The people on this committee believe in health IT and its value, have experience with it and live it," Neil Calman, a member of the workgroup, told the news source. "Our natural predilection would be to push things forward and see the country make progress in this area. I'm interested in what pieces of the 'slow down' we need to pay attention to."
Several specific recommendations for the second stage of meaningful use emerged from the meeting. Paul Tang, the workgroup's chair, proposed raising the threshold of data measures and requiring providers to collect data on their use of electronic health records for only three months instead of a full year, according to iHealthBeat.
While there is still a significant amount of work to be done on the rules, national coordinator for health IT David Blumenthal says that his office is still on track to implement the new regulations in a timely fashion and according to their original plan.
Blumenthal sparked concerns that the government's push for electronic health records adoption may take a hit when he announced that he will leave his current position to take a teaching job at Harvard. However, he assured EHR Watch that the government's plans for stage two are still on track.
He told the news source that his office and other government agencies are working on a number of projects related to stage two of meaningful use and that he expects many of the details to be available in the relatively near future.