Senators request delay in transition to meaningful use 2

(HealthDay)—A group of U.S. senators has requested that the transition to meaningful use 2 be delayed by one year, according to an article published Sept. 30 in Medical Economics.

The letter, written to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius by a group of 17 Republican senators, expresses concerns that providers and electronic health record (EHR) vendors are not prepared for meaningful use 2, set to begin in 2014.

The concerns expressed in the letter include an unreasonable time crunch for physicians, hospitals, and vendors; a divide between large practices and small, rural practices; and concern that the timeline will lead to stifled innovation and medical errors. The senators stress that those providers who are ready for transition should be able to proceed on schedule, but request that those who are not ready should be allowed a one-year extension. The American Medical Association supports the plan outlined in the senators' letter.

"If the goal is to improve care by achieving broad and meaningful utilization of EHRs, providing sufficient time to ensure a safe, orderly transition through stage 2 is critical to having stakeholder buy-in, a necessary component of long-term success," the letter reads.