AMA and HIMSS Comment on Stage 2

meaningful useBoth the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) have officially submitted their comments on the proposed rules of Stage 2 of the Medicare/Medicaid meaningful use program this week.

The AMA said it was generally supportive of the widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems and meaningful use by providers, but found the Stage 2 proposal too unwieldy and difficult to achieve.  The statement noted that limited data exchange options with other healthcare partners will result in extensive manual data entry, and urged more flexibility in meeting measures and counting “good faith” efforts to count for incentives and avoiding penalties.

HIMSS is requesting the incorporation of a 90- to 180-day reporting period for the first year of Stage 2 in 2014, having observed an increasing amount of resources being used to prepare healthcare providers for attestation.  HIMSS further encouraged greater use of mobile technologies to support and increase patient engagement.

Allscripts MyWay, Lytec MD, and Medisoft Clinical are among the EHR systems that Microwize Technology can help you implement in preparation for meaningful use.