For the next few months, federal healthcare policymakers will have their hands full sorting through the range of responses to the recently proposed “meaningful use” standards.
But as they consider how, or whether, each opinion should change the specific proposed regulations, they should also remember that their overall response is, at least in part, a test of the Obama administration’s much ballyhooed commitment to “open government.”
Since CMS released the proposed standards at the end of December, there has been a steady stream of comments from stakeholders and observers alike. A glance across the landscape of opinions indicates that a majority of commentators are more or less supportive. At the same time, serious concerns remain.
For example, this observer is struggling just trying to figure out how to respond. His core problem “with much of what’s being done with meaningful use and the EMR stimulus is that they’ve made it far too complicated for a small doctors office. Considering small doctors offices make up a large part of the healthcare in the US, that means that the EMR stimulus will do little to stimulate these doctors to start using an EMR."
If he's right, that constitutes a problem for policymakers that reaches far beyond a few tweaks, here and there, to the current proposal.
Meanwhile, observers on a higher perch are also voicing their concerns. CHIME, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, recently voiced reservations similar to those raised about smaller practices.
“At first glance,” the organization said, “several provisions within the regulations merit closer scrutiny and will pose significant challenges for providers hoping to implement electronic health records.”
Reportedly, policymakers have voiced a willingness to “dial back” the proposed regulations in order to fit providers’ “operational readiness”.
In the end, that willingness, as demonstrated by substantive changes to the final “meaningful use” standards, will be the true indication of the administration’s commitment to “open government.”
Jeff Rowe blogs daily at Priming the Pump.
