While healthcare entities are still trying to change the Stage 1 meaningful use criteria, the Health IT Policy Committee has begun fleshing out the Stage 2 criteria.
Laying the groundwork for the next milestone is absolutely necessary, but before any real work can be accomplished, before any framework can be built, ONC needs to let the industry know whether or not Stage 1 meaningful use criteria will be altered or not. If there are any changes, any lowering of thresholds, make them now or sooner rather than later. Perhaps ONC is still weighing what is can or should change after public calls by influential entities such as the American Hospital Association.
ONC needs to take a stand and say, the final rule is final. Period. Or we will allow this change or that for this reason and this is final.
Committee members are right to wonder if the percentage increases will be implausible or impossible for many healthcare providers to meet, and rightfully point to no history of success rate to guide them. The industry can't wait, however, for success rates in meeting Stage 1 meaningful use requirements. The early adopters will need to map out their next steps, and the latecomers need to pace themselves.
What makes sense at this point is to truly finalize the final ruling for Stage 1 meaningful use requirements. Silence the critics now. Then, take a temperature of the early adopters and see what their threshold is. Check in with the RECs and a sampling of physician offices and health systems that are late-comers to health IT adoption and see how they’re doing. Then figure out what is achievable without having a lot of providers drop out. It's great to push and make healthcare providers work hard, but there's a fine line between pushing hard and pushing out.
The policy committee and ONC have a lot of hard work ahead of them, and I don’t envy their enormous task. On top of this, everyone has an opinion about how they should proceed and is not shy to voice that opinion.
The bottom line is that the industry will eventually adopt health IT, and I can say that with certainty because the next generation of physicians, hospital and health system executives will bring technology into their organizations, if it isn't already there. ONC's job is to expedite the process of reaching that state. It needs to be done in a way that nurtures the latecomers and challenges the early adopters. The approach should not alienate but welcome.
