Dont tell me anyone really believes this is "better". Sounds like bs to me, especially when the AMA is who they consulted. Looks like some backtracking based in part on the primary Obama donor who handsomely benefited from govt mandated EHR, yet whose system did not communicate with anyone else's. I still dont lose an hour of my day by not using EHR. The penalty is still cheaper.
Slavitt's statements don't mean that the incentive program is screeching to a halt this year, relieving physicians of reporting obligations and financial penalties. However, they could portend major changes in meaningful use as early as next year, according to medical society leaders interviewed by Medscape Medical News. The changes come in conjunction with a massive overhaul of how Medicare pays physicians.
Launched in 2011, the EHR incentive program uses bonuses and penalties to encourage physicians to use the technology in "meaningful" ways, such as prescribing electronically, implementing drug-allergy alerts, and communicating with patients online. The ultimate goal is to improve care and lower costs. However, medical societies have protested that increasingly rigorous program requirements are oppressive, turning physicians into bureaucratic box-checkers, and clinically irrelevant in many cases.
Slavitt said at the San Francisco healthcare conference that on the basis of consultations with the American Medical Association (AMA) and other physician groups, CMS was drafting meaningful use reforms that it would disclose over the next several months. The focus, he said, would move from rewarding physicians for using EHRs to rewarding them for patient outcomes. And EHR technology would be user-centered and interoperable — no more programs that can't swap data.