HHS Delays Stage 2 Meaningful Use

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced several changes to encourage the adoption of electronic health records, specifically by delaying Stage 2 of meaningful use standards by one year.  According to HHS, “to encourage faster adoption, the Secretary announced that HHS intends to allow doctors and hospitals to adopt health IT this year, without meeting the new standards until 2014. Doctors who act quickly can also qualify for incentive payments in 2011 as well as 2012.  These policy changes are accompanied by greater outreach efforts that will provide more information to doctors and hospitals about best practices and to vendors whose products allow health care providers to meaningfully use EHRs.”

In addition to this announcement, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a report titled “Electronic Health Record Systems and Intent to Apply for Meaningful Use Incentives Among Office-based Physician Practices: United States, 2001–2011.”  The report profiles trends in the adoption of health IT.  Among the data provided in the report, the CDC notes that 57% of office-based physicians used EHR / EMR systems and 34% had a system in place that met the criteria for a basic system.

While trends have clearly increased in both the adoption and use of health IT, there is more work to be done – especially among small healthcare providers.  We at CompTIA continue to believe that the key to ensuring a broader adoption of health IT is to create solid partnerships between small medical providers and small IT solution providers.  This partnership would allow medical providers to focus on the health of their patients, while allowing highly skilled IT professionals to implement this complex system.

Health IT is a vital part of increasing the health of patients throughout the country.  Additionally, health IT is an opportunity to grow the workforce and add jobs.  According to the HHS Office of the National Coordinator, “the number of health IT job postings increased 201 percent from January 2007 through September 2011.”