Physician Groups Urge Changes, Extensions for Meaningful Use Criteria

AMA is recommending that CMS:

• Remove the "all or nothing" approach and require physicians to meet five of the 25 proposed objectives and measures instead of all 25.


• Eliminate the objectives and measures that don't directly apply to EHR adoption, such as checking insurance eligibility electronically.


• Revise the definition of meaningful use for certain hospital-based physicians to broaden eligibility for the federal incentive programs.


• Reduce the number of quality measure reporting requirements and allow physicians to identify only three clinically relevant measures.

"Overall, the proposed reporting criteria require more flexibility," Stack said. "We'd like to see more help for physicians in identifying the data necessary for accurate reporting."