Congress should intervene to “refocus” the federal meaningful-use program for electronic health records, says a coalition of 111 medical societies led by the American Medical Association.
The groups joined a previous request by the Texas Medical Association, which argues that Stage 3 of the program, meant to get physicians using EHRs, could jeopardize Medicare physician payment rules. The TMA urged Congress to lift the program's “convoluted and tedious” requirements. It calls the Stage 3 rules “meaningless abuse.”
In a letter to House and Senate leaders, the groups said congressional action is urgently needed to refocus the program before doctors abandon the program entirely.
The TMA, in a letter to members of Texas' congressional delegation, asked legislators to co-sponsor two bills to alter the meaningful-use landscape. One is the Flex-IT 2 Act, which would delay Stage 3 rules until at least 2017. The other is the Transparent Ratings on Usability and Security to Transform Information Technology Act, which aims to ensure health IT systems perform better in the field.
The TMA, the nation's largest state medical society, says the concerns are top of mind for many physicians. It points to the attention given to a video by Las Vegas-based physician- rapper Dr. Zubin Damania, titled “EHR state of Mind,” which has drawn nearly 200,000 views, the TMA reported.
