It seems that the CMS agrees with this, as acting administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced in March that there will be a hiatus prior to further rulemaking to examine the program’s impact so far and solicit comments from clinicians.
With that in mind, here is your opportunity to bring your thoughts and criticisms to a public forum. As stated above, we look forward to receiving any perspective or status updates you might wish to offer and will review and publish these over the next few months. We hope that this will prove to be constructive, informative, and useful, and will reflect where our fellow clinicians stand on issues from meaningful (or unmeaningful) use to optimization strategies and techniques.
We are convinced that the true success of EHR adoption will take time and only come through the collective wisdom and feedback of clinicians, but we remain confident that eventually it will offer a path to improved patient care. Whether you agree or not, here’s your chance to let us know.
Dr. Skolnik is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia. He is editor in chief of Redi-Reference, a software company that creates medical handheld references. Dr. Notte practices family medicine and health care informatics at Abington Memorial. They are partners in EHR Practice Consultants. Contact them at info@ehrpc.com.