Are Changes to Meaningful Use Certification Coming?

I’d been meaning to write about the now infamous letter from the AMA and 20 other associations and organizations to Karen DeSalvo (ONC Chair and Assistant HHS Secretary). I’ve put a list of the organizations and associations that co-signed the letter at the bottom of this post. It’s quite the list.

In the letter they make these recommended changes to the EHR certification program:

1. Decouple EHR certification from the Meaningful Use program;
2. Re-consider alternative software testing methods;
3. Establish greater transparency and uniformity on UCD testing and process results;
4. Incorporate exception handling into EHR certification;
5. Develop C-CDA guidance and tests to support exchange;
6. Seek further stakeholder feedback; and
7. Increase education on EHR implementation.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that many of these suggestions can be done by Karen and ONC. For example, I believe it will take an act of Congress in order to decouple EHR certification from the meaningful use program. I don’t think ONC has the authority to just change that since they’re bound by legislation.

What I do think they could do is dramatically simplify the EHR certification requirements. Some might try to spin it as making the EHR certification irrelevant, but it would actually make the EHR certification more relevant. If it was focused on just a few important things that actually tested the EHR properly for those things, then people would be much more interested in the EHR certification and it’s success. As it is now, most people just see EHR certification as a way to get EHR incentive money.

I’ll be interested to see if we see any changes in EHR certification. Unfortunately, the government rarely does things to decrease regulation. In some ways, if ONC decreases what EHR certification means, then they’re putting their colleagues out of a job. My only glimmer of hope is that meaningful use stage 3 will become much more simpler and because of that, EHR certification that matches MU stage 3 will be simpler as well. Although, I’m not holding my breathe.

What do you think will happen to EHR certification going forward?

Organizations and Associations that Signed the Letter:
American Medical Association
AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
American Academy of Dermatology Association
American Academy of Facial Plastic
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Home Care Medicine
American Academy of Neurology
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery
American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
American College of Emergency Physicians
American College of Osteopathic Surgeons
American College of Physicians
American College of Surgeons
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American Osteopathic Association
American Society for Radiology and Oncology
American Society of Anesthesiologists
American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and Reconstructive Surgery
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society of Nephrology
College of Healthcare Information Management Executives
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Heart Rhythm Society
Joint Council on Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
Medical Group Management Association
National Association of Spine Specialists
Renal Physicians Association
Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions
Society for Vascular Surgery

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

3 Comments

  • I’d be surprised to see changes come (pleasantly surprised). The problem is, there is a cubicle farm of bureaucrats that have created their own little kingdom…they have no incentive to change anything.

  • You may not be holding your breath, but I am positively blue in the face. As an REC consultant, I really need the “big G” to throw me a bone here and provide me with a leg on which I can stand.
    From the beginning, I’ve been searching for analogies to which I can equate the MU initiative. It’s putting up a buiding, with MU1 as the framework – stabilizing the future with load-bearing and structural support beams. Can you tell what that structure is going to be, or what good it’s going to bring you just yet? Not with Stage 1 you can’t. MU1 is about bringing those elements together in structured data format, in preparation for a meaningful, useful future.
    MU2 brings us a little closer, engaging us and our clientele (or our patients) with the building’s purpose longterm and defining processes for how it should be utilized. I need MU3 to bring it all home and deliver on promises – truly improving outcomes and providing my clients with some incentive for hanging in there with me.
    Am I an eternal optimist? No, quite the contrary actually. But I’m searching for some credibility here. Come on, G!
    Avid reader, John. As always, thanks for the thoughts.

  • Megan,
    What a plea! I’d love to hear what you think MU3 should include to be able to add credibility to the work you’ve done.

    Also, thanks so much for being an avid reader!

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