CHIME uneasy with 'all-or-nothing' approach on 'meaningful use'

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, a professional association of healthcare information technology leaders, has weighed in with its take on the proposed “meaningful use” rules on the federal electronic health record subsidy program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

CHIME's comments echoed recommendations issued last week by the Health Information Technology Policy Committee that the “all-or-nothing” approach to qualifying for federal subsidies by requiring providers to meet all “meaningful use” criteria to qualify for EHR subsidy payments would be counter productive.

The CMS issued a 556-page proposed rule on the stimulus law EHR subsidy program on Dec. 30. The public comment period on the CMS proposed rule is open through March 15.

“One of CHIME's critical concerns is that the regulations outline an ‘all-or-nothing' approach to defining and achieving meaningful use that is too ambitious, doesn't take into account the need for flexibility by providers and does not reward incremental progress,” the Ann Arbor, Mich.,-based organization said in a news release.

That statement quoted the CHIME official response that warns the CMS that “organizations with limited resources will likely have little chance of qualifying for payments, thus widening the ‘digital divide' in the country.”

The full text of CHIME's 45-page response is available here. A 23-page executive summary is available here.

What do you think? Post a comment on this article and share your opinion with other readers. Submit your comments to Modern Healthcare Online at [email protected]. Please be sure to include your hometown and state, along with your organization and title.