ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿

Two Senate committee chairmen and 116 members of the House this week asked the Department of Health and Human Services to refrain from finalizing Stage 3 Meaningful Use requirements for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records programs at this time. Sens. John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions,  HHS to immediately adopt Stage 2 modifications and delay making final rules for Stage 3 until at least 2017, saying “the government, doctors and hospitals need time to do it right.” In a  to HHS and the Office of Management and Budget, the House members reiterated “the importance of refraining from issuing the Meaningful Use Stage 3 and the accompanying certification rule until a rigorous evaluation of provider participation in Stage 2 has been completed...A learning health system should incorporate the lessons learned from Stage 2 into Stage 3. This is not possible at present because a minority of providers have achieved Stage 2 and because the Stage 2 modifications rule has yet to be implemented.” The House letter was spearheaded by Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Tom Price (R-GA) and David Scott (R-GA).