Modifications to
Meaningful Use for 2015 through 2017: Realigning the EHR Incentive Programs to
support health information exchange and quality improvement
On April 10, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a
new proposed rule for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR)
Incentive Programs to align Stage 1 and Stage 2 objectives and measures with
the long-term proposals for Stage 3, to build progress toward program
milestones, to reduce complexity, and to simplify providers’ reporting. These
modifications would allow providers to focus more closely on the advanced use
of certified EHR technology to support health information exchange and quality
improvement.
Better Care, Smarter Spending and Healthier People
The proposed rule is just one part of a larger effort across HHS to deliver
better care, spend health dollars more wisely, and have healthier people and
communities by working in three core areas: improving the way providers are
paid, improving the way care is delivered, and improving the way information is
shared to support transparency for consumers, health care providers, and
researchers and to strengthen decision-making.
Vision for the Future
The proposed rule issued today is a critical step forward in helping to support
the long-term goals of delivery system reform; especially those goals of a
nationwide interoperable learning health system and patient-centered care. CMS is
also simplifying the structure and reducing the reporting requirements for
providers participating in the program by removing measures which have become
duplicative, redundant, and reached wide-spread adoption (i.e., are “topped
out”). This will allow providers to refocus on the advanced use objectives and
measures. These advanced measures are at the core of health IT supported health
care which drives toward improving the way electronic health information is
shared among providers and with their patients, enhancing the ability to
measure quality and set improvement goals, and ultimately improving the way
health care is delivered and experienced.
