American Medical Association asks for pause in meaningful use over payment concerns
Locking in Stage 3 rules would be unwise and undermine the implementation of Medicare payment reforms, says AMA
The American Medical Association has asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to pause its meaningful use program, due to the risk it places on a health system's ability to carry out new models of payment.
The AMA and 41 medical societies made the request Thursday in letters to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan.
Stage 3 of meaningful use is a challenging and detailed level for providers and physicians as it focuses on quality reporting, clinical decision support and security risk analysis.
Locking in Stage 3 rules for meaningful use would be unwise and undermine the implementation of Medicare payment reforms, according to the AMA. Proposed Stage 3 regulation was developed prior to changes enacted by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, the AMA stated.
"Given the vital role of the Meaningful Use Program in the reformed payment systems, proceeding with the proposed Stage 3 rules threatens to impede the healthcare delivery innovations Congress sought to promote when it passed the law," the AMA said in a release.
AMA President Steven J. Stack said, "There is growing bipartisan recognition in Congress that the direction of the Meaningful Use program needs to be reassessed in light of usability and interoperability challenges with electronic health record systems. Poorly performing systems that do not facilitate the seamless exchange of data would severely undermine the ability of the health system to support the implementation of the payment reforms outlined in MACRA (Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act)."
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The AMA said it believes pausing Stage 3 at this time would provide the opportunity to evaluate the environment and work with the administration to implement the needed changes to the meaningful use program.
"The AMA wants the Meaningful Use program to succeed. Pausing to reassess Stage 3 rules will not stop or delay progress with EHRs," Stack said. "On the contrary, we firmly believe a temporary period of reevaluation will help move the program forward and drive innovation and adoption."
Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN
