Most Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups Unprepared to Help Client Physicians Meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 Criteria
Because of the failure of many EHR products to obtain MU Stage 2 certification, physicians using those EHRs are being forced to buy and implement a different EHR
Like the jaws of a vise squeezing together, the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups now find themselves caught in the jaws of the federal government’s complex program to encourage providers to adopt and use electronic health record (EHR) systems.
One jaw is the failure of many EHR systems to certify to Meaningful Use Stage Two requirements, thus exposing physicians using those EHRs to substantial Medicare penalties as early as this year.
The other jaw of this proverbial vise is the need—for the second time—for many medical laboratories to spend substantial amounts of money to create a new LIS-to-EHR interface to those client physicians who are replacing their first EHR system, because it is not certified to Meaningful Use Stage 2 and they want to avoid Medicare penalties for use of a non-certified EHR. (more…)