EHR vendors to feds: slow down!(EHR) (electronic health record) (EHR Association)

Electronic health record (EHR) vendors have asked the U.S. government to slow down and focus on "encouraging and assisting providers to take advantage of the substantial capabilities established in Stage 1 and especially Stage 2, rather than adding new meaningful use requirements and product certification criteria."

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The EHR Association, representing 40 EHR vendors, posed the request in its comments regarding the proposed Stage 3 requirements. The group stated its belief "that any meaningful use and functionality changes should focus primarily on interoperability and building on accelerated momentum and more extensive use of Stage 2 capabilities and clinical quality measurement." The vendors requested that Stage 3 be delayed at least three years so the focus could be on these areas.

They also encouraged the government to invest in quality measure alignment, infrastructure, and standards, and to focus on building on the foundation begun in Stage 2 without adding a significant number of new quality measures.

The government regulations take a one-size-fits-all approach, which has proved cumbersome for some healthcare providers. Unfortunately, there hasn't been time to examine what's working well.

"To keep moving ahead with such an aggressive strategy strikes me as foolish," Stephanie Reel, vice provost for information technology and chief information officer at Johns Hopkins University, told Forbes. "We don't know what's working, and what's not working."

"Our proposed alternative approach is offered in recognition that the public and...