Medical Societies Push for Changes to CMS Meaningful Use Criteria

The American Medical Association and 98 other medical societies this week sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services arguing that its latest criteria for meaningful use of electronic health records will discourage physicians from using the technology, according to a Medscape report.

The medical societies recommended that CMS first survey physicians on stage 1 meaningful use criteria to determine why participation in the incentive program in 2011 was low, and what should be done to improve stage 2 measures.

The societies also want CMS to alter its timetable for penalizing physicians under Medicare for failing to demonstrate EHR meaningful use. Under the proposed stage 2 criteria, CMS would dock physicians 1 percent of Medicare pay in 2015 based on their performance in 2013 or 2014.  The societies argued that CMS should allow physicians to avoid the 2015 penalty by demonstrating meaningful use in the first half of that year.

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