The American Medical Association (AMA) has offered recommendations to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on how to modify the meaningful use IT stimulus program.
AMA said it is advising changes that will accommodate the real-world needs of physicians and patients, while promoting the interoperability of electronic health records. Transitioning to a new physician payment framework based on quality and value requires that physicians have usable and interoperable tools that involve patients and support care coordination, according to the association.
"Stage 3 must allow physicians to maximize the use of electronic health records in place today, while allowing vendors to continue to innovate and create new technologies," AMA said in a statement.
In its letter commenting on stage 3 of the meaningful use program, AMA recommended that the agency do the following:
- Provide flexibility and eliminate a pass-fail program design
- Allow for multiple methods/paths to achieve desired end goals
- Remove threshold requirements for measures outside of the physician's control
- Reorient measures away from process-based tasks to highlight goals that are useful to patients and physicians
- Encourage new technology functions to be the focus of certification rather than placing requirements on physicians and patients that may not yet be feasible
- Support the reuse of data to reduce the burden on documentation
AMA noted that this new framework would not be a complete redesign of meaningful use; rather, it would work within the current systems and offer a "glide path" to meet the new law. Flexibility is the key to improving meaningful use to ensure that stage 3 objectives can align with advanced payment models based on quality and value, according to the association.
"New payment systems will not work if physicians fail for missing just one of numerous requirements or are held accountable for technological failures outside of their control," AMA said.
The organization's letter can be found here.
