House members to HHS: EHR meaningful use program needs more flexibility now

Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and Ron Kind (D-WI) yesterday sent a letter urging Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to quickly give hospitals and physicians more flexibility to meet Meaningful Use requirements under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs. Among other actions, they said HHS should remove the pass-fail approach to meaningful use requirements and not penalize providers for the actions of others; expand the types of hardship exemptions available; implement a 90-day reporting period for the first year of any MU stage; and ensure that all electronic clinical quality measures are feasible, valid and reliable. “These reforms are vitally important to ensure the nation’s hospitals and physicians are able to use technology to meaningfully improve patient care,” they wrote.