CHIME issues statement, calls for delay of Meaningful Use Stage 3

The follow is a statement from CHIME Vice President of Congressional Affairs, Leslie Krigstein, calling for a delay of Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 3:

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) applauds Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) for calling on the Obama administration to take a more reasoned approach to the next phases of the Meaningful Use program.

During a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) hearing today, Chairman Alexander called on the administration to delay until 2017 final rulemaking for Stage 3. We appreciate his recognition that hospitals and health systems are still working to meet requirements under Stages 1 and 2.

Additionally, hospitals, physicians and their vendor partners continue to wait for a much-anticipated rule modifying certain requirements for meeting Stage 2 in 2015. The continued delays in the release of this final rule only jeopardize the long-term outcomes of the program. We must get the modification rule in the hands of providers as soon as possible to ensure that the well-intentioned relief offered by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the proposed rule can be realized.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) comments on the importance of being able to accurately match patients to their health records and the need to address the other challenges impeding the development of an interoperable healthcare system were also notable.

Patients will be best served when as many providers as possible are successfully participating in the Meaningful Use program. CHIME is committed to ensuring that digital health tools are deployed safely and securely for the betterment of patient care.

We look forward working with the Chairman Alexander and the HELP Committee to ensure the ultimate lasting legacy of the Meaningful Use program is improved patient care through interoperable health records.