On September 13, the Senate HELP (healthcare) committee held a hearing focused on patient access to EHRs, patient engagement, and other health information technology (IT) issues. The hearing—titled “Achieving the Promise of Health Information Technology: Improving Care through Patient Access to Their Records”—received testimony from witnesses representing research, technology, and life sciences. Each witness stressed the need for better EHR usability, more patient access to data, and greater interoperability.
This was the fifth in a series of hearings this year by the Senate HELP committee focused on EHRs and health IT issues. The committee has announced plans to hold one more hearing next month before moving forward with draft legislation, likely to address the Meaningful Use program and other aspects of health IT.
Perhaps more significant than any of the expert testimony received were remarks by Committee Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander (R, TN), who used the hearing to call for a delay of Meaningful Use stage 3. In his remarks, Alexander stated his preference for delaying the release of the final rule until 2017 and the start date for Stage 3 beyond 2017. This adds to a growing list of stakeholders who think the Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) should hit pause on Stage 3 until the industry gains more success and feedback from Stage 2. (See here and here for more details.)
Currently, the final rules for Stage 3 and the corresponding certification criteria are with the White House Office of Budget and Management and expected to be released within the next month.
Impact for NextGen Healthcare Clients: It is unlikely that the Senate will conclude work on EHR and meaningful use issues this year, thereby pushing any changes in law until next year. This includes any potential legal requirement to delay Stage 3 or the Stage 3 rule. We expect the release of the 2015-17 modifications for Stage 2 rules any day now. Clients should expect to be required to report on a 90 day period for Meaningful Use in 2015, as that is most likely unchanged from the proposed rule. It is likely that the start of Stage 3 will be delayed beyond 2017, whether by CMS or Congress. NextGen Healthcare awaits the release of the certification requirements and the final timeline for the start of Stage 3 to see if ONC has cut back the scope of mandated features, allowing us to devote more time to enhancements instead of regulatory requirements.