As of November 1, 2014 only 2% of eligible professionals had attested to Meaningful Use 2. This is not good news for the thousands of independent physician practices that rely on Medicare payments: the Center for Medicare Services is slated to hand out 1% penalties this year for MU2 slackers—which is estimated to total $1.15B4. With the 2014 Hardship Exception Deadline on the books, it’s time for many private practices to get serious about MU2.
Independent physicians aren’t the only ones struggling to meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements. Many EHR vendors have had their own struggles to implement the technology needed to meet the arduous MU2 rules.
The required interoperability need for MU2 rules has proven to be a major challenge for a lot of small to mid-size EHR vendors. A November 2014 study of 107 health information technology organizations revealed 615 errors and data expression variation within the studies technologies5. The researchers found that many technologies are currently unable to consistently send complete patient data without the need for manual entry.
You may be wondering if your EHR system is to be blame for your own progress on MU2 attestation. Download the guide to four surefire signs that it’s time to make a switch.