Chicago, IL (August 13, 2013) – As Meaningful Use Stage 2 approaches, many eligible professionals (EPs), hospitals, and healthcare systems are gaining an appreciation for the inherent complexities of the new requirements – particularly the measures associated with Transitions of Care, Patient Engagement, and Quality Reporting. Overall, there is a growing concern in the industry that these three measures alone will cause many providers to not meet Stage 2 in 2014, potentially resulting in lost incentive payments – and in some cases penalties – under the federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs.
“Meaningful Use Stage 2 is much more complicated than the first stage,” said Laura Kreofsky, Principal Advisor at Impact Advisors. “We are seeing 80 to 90 percent of providers struggle to implement the new requirements because of the complexity of these three measures alone and the challenges in operationalizing the measures in their unique environments,” specifically:
- Transitions of Care – The requirements to produce and transmit a summary of care record at transitions of care are complex. There are a number of ways to approach the measures — and not all approaches are mutually exclusive, according to Jason Fortin, Senior Advisor at Impact Advisors who works extensively with HIE vendors and healthcare providers on the technical and workflow requirements related to Transitions of Care.
- Patient Engagement Measures – Stage 2 requires unprecedented action from patients to view, download, and transmit their health information and communicate with EPs via secure messaging. For the first time, hospitals and EPs will be held accountable for patient-initiated behavior, requiring new workflows and a whole new level of staff engagement.
- Quality Measure Reporting – With increasing reporting requirements, the organic growth of informatics and analytics capabilities within organizations, and the electronic submission of clinical quality measures beginning in 2014, many providers need to essentially re-architect and/or rationalize their quality reporting.
To help organizations address these key challenges, as well as all aspects of Stage 2, Impact Advisors works closely with leading healthcare organizations’ clinical and IT leadership to help them understand and plan for the technical and workflow changes needed. The firm has also established a networking group for MU Program Managers from across the country to meet virtually to address questions and share best practices. For more information on Impact Advisors, visit www.impact-advisors.com.
