Electronic health records rules changes demanded by medical groups

Medical societies want more flexibility in meeting the meaningful use requirements of the electronic health record incentive program.

The American Medical Association, American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Osteopathic Association, and 34 other societies wrote to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in response to a request for comments on the proposed next stage of meaningful use criteria.

The groups asked for a survey of physicians who are and aren't participating in Stage 1 of the incentive program to identify barriers to participation, exclude meaningful use measures that don't apply to a physician's routine practice, remove measures that require adherence from nonphysicians, and eliminate high reporting thresholds for objectives that cannot be met now due to lack of available tools or health information exchanges.