Feds to ease EHR certification schedule.

• Position: EHR - Electronic health records

The medical community and electronic health records (EHR) vendors have been asking U.S. regulators for some time to slow down on the final implementation stages of EHR certification. A petition from a coalition of 35 medical societies, led by the American Medical Association, got a response.

"Among physicians there are documented challenges and growing frustration with the way EHRs are performing. Many physicians find these systems cumbersome, do not meet their workflow needs, decrease efficiency, and have limited, if any, interoperability. Most importantly, certified EHR technology (CEHRT) can present safety concerns for patients," the coalition stressed in its January 21 letter to the national coordinator for health information technology.

The group specifically asked that the regulators, among other things:

* Decouple EHR certification from the Meaningful Use program

* Consider alternative software testing methods

* Incorporate exception handling into EHR certification

* Develop guidance and tests to support exchange of data

On January 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would be updating the EHR Incentive Program this year.

"The new rule, expected this spring, would respond to provider concerns about software implementation, information exchange readiness, and other related concerns in 2015," wrote Patrick Conway, M.D., the agency's deputy administrator of innovation and quality, in a CMS blog posting.

CMS is considering proposals to:

* Realign hospital EHR reporting periods to the calendar year to allow eligible hospitals more time to incorporate 2014 edition software into their workflows and to better align with other CMS quality programs

* Modify other aspects of the program to match longterm goals, reduce complexity, and lessen providers' reporting burdens

* Shorten the EHR reporting period in 2015 to 90 days to accommodate these changes

On January 30, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) released for public comment a draft Interoperability Roadmap, which focuses on actions that will enable consumers and healthcare...