According to the 94,700-member American Academy of Family Physicians, while it "supports the goals" behind the proposed regulations, it believes that the regulations-as proposed-impose hurdles that will challenge small- and mid-sized practices' ability to qualify for the ARRA's health IT subsidies.
A chief concern is that collecting and reporting performance data could become an administrative burden, said Steven Waldren, director of the AAFP's Center for Health IT. He said that his recommendation for the final rules would be to "focus on meaningful use and not reporting on the meaningful use."
Physicians who meet the requirements could receive $44,000 to help pay for their purchase of an electronic health record system.
"They should not implement health IT to get the $44,000," Waldren said, they should do it to improve quality and efficiency and to move toward transforming their practices into a patient-centered medical home. "And, if you do that, you'll get $44,000. I don't think there's anything in there that physicians shouldn't be doing or striving for."
Waldren added that the AAFP is specifically encouraged by the proposed regulations' focus on care coordination, quality and patient-centered care, and he also said the AAFP supports the rules' promotion of using electronic prescribing; clinical decision support; analysis and reporting of evidence-based measures of quality and performance; and the sharing of health information and educational resources with patients.
For full details, read this article from Modern Healthcare.