An editorial in the American Medical Association's American Medical News applauded the relaxation of the proposed meaningful use criteria when HHS came out with the final rule in July. Still, the editorial says that the road to meaningful use will be "tough."
It contends that small physician practices will still be handicapped because of the stringent bonus requirements. That is, if a physician doesn't meet all 20 EMR objectives, the physician may miss out on as much as $18,000 in bonuses for the year. The editorial bemoans that no appeals process is in place in the event a physician feels he or she should be awarded the bonus.
An appeals board is a good idea. It's something HHS and CMS can still implement. They have plenty of time to put together a sound process, given that bonuses won't be awarded until 2011 anyway.
Interestingly enough, I have listened to a talk by a CIO of a mid-size hospital in Missouri. She believed that the final rule is too lenient and actually waters down the meaning of meaningful use. The leniency will slow down the rate of adoption, whereas a more stringent list of requirements would have pushed healthcare providers more. Whereas the editorial criticized the tight timeframe, this CIO thought that extending the deadline would again slow down the rate of adoption.
No matter what HHS or CMS do, there will be critics on both sides. What's good about the criticism is that it allows HHS and CMS to think about whether these suggestions have merit and would help further the adoption of health IT.
Photo by dbaron obtained via Creative Commons license.
