Physicians Unhappy With MU Penalties

Breaking into 2015, many health care providers are preparing to meet the Stage 2 requirements of the Meaningful Use program. Recently, one government representative called for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to shorten the attestation period, which has garnered considerable backing from her colleagues.

Reducing time to help providers
FierceEMR reported that Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) is appealing to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews on behalf of physicians and hospitals working toward achieving Meaningful Use. Ellmers and her colleagues voiced their concerns in a letter to Mathews, requesting that HHS implement "a shortened, 90-day reporting period in 2015."

"We are concerned that a full-year reporting period will complicate the forward trajectory of Meaningful Use and jeopardize the $25 billion in federal investment made to date," wrote the lawmakers, quoted by the news source.

The letter was sent a day before CMS announced that roughly 257,000 physicians would be given a 1 percent penalty for failing to meet Meaningful Use requirements by Oct. 1, 2014.

Ellmers has extensive background in the health care industry, as she proposed a bill last September called the Flexibility in Health IT Reporting Act, which sought to ease attestation for providers by allowing them to choose any three-month quarter for reporting clinical data gathered from electronic health record software. She also was not alone in her campaigning endeavors, as FierceEMR explained that more than 17 industry stakeholders have communicated their concerns to HHS regarding the Meaningful Use requirements.

Increasing frustration among MU participants
Following CMS' announcement that providers would be penalized financially for missing the Oct. 1 deadline for Meaningful Use requirements, many industry pundits expressed their disappointments with the fines. In addition, new research has shown that doctors are still sour on attestation changes to the program.

According to EHRIntelligence, a new study published in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making indicated that physicians are hesitant to change their daily workflows to meet the Stage 1 requirements of Meaningful Use. A survey was distributed to 400 providers at 47 practices around the U.S. The results revealed an overall unwillingness to adapt to the program's stipulations and a general lack of confidence in the ability to meet the challenges of EHR implementation.

While only 28.4 percent of responding physicians felt their organizations could overcome issues with Meaningful Use, nearly 45 percent of nurses and advanced practice providers believed their facilities could address any problems that arise during the attestation process. The majority of concerns pertained to diverting valuable resources away from serving patients in order to implement, modify and troubleshoot EHR software and other digital systems.

"These results suggest that leaders of health care organizations should pay attention to the perceptions that providers and clinical staff have about Meaningful Use appropriateness and management support for Meaningful Use," read the study, as quoted by EHRIntelligence. "Change management efforts could focus on improving these perceptions if need be as it is feasible that doing so could improve willingness to change practices for Meaningful Use."

If practices are having problems with attestation, providers should consider education courses for all staff members on using and reporting with EHRs. This presents a low-cost alternative and helps avoid potential financial penalties from the federal government. In addition, more employees will have the opportunity to guide one another through hands-on demonstrations and training for quality EHR proficiency and documentation. At a time when cutting costs and improving processes is critical, revamping systems might be the best strategy for physicians.

Contact Viztek for more information.

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