09/27/2013    

EMR ISSUES

Fewer Certified EHRs for Stage 2 May Pose Problems for Docs

 

There is growing concern that far fewer software developers have certified electronic health-record systems for use by healthcare providers under federal Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements than under Stage 1. A Modern Healthcare review of the Certified Health IT Product List compiled by HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology shows that just 79 companies, providers, and other organizations have developed software and had it tested and certified to ONC-determined software functionality standards for Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements. In comparison, there were 988 developers of health information technology systems tested and certified for Stage 1.

 

This could cause problems for hospitals and office-based physician practices, which must advance quickly from Stage 1 to Stage 2 to avoid penalties, but still don't have tested and certified systems for meeting the Stage 2 requirements. Experts say vendors are facing problems as they try to develop EHR systems capable of performing calculations for measures providers must report to the CMS under the Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements.

 

Source: Joseph Conn, Modern Healthcare [9/25/13]