Becker's Hospital Review

46 Health Information Technology Health IT Policy Committee Approves Scaled-Back Mu3 Recommendations By Helen Gregg I n March, the Health IT Policy Committee approved the meaningful use workgroup's recommendations for stage 3, which have been reduced by about one-third from what the workgroup presented in February. Eight of the original 26 recommendations were removed in an effort to tighten the focus of stage 3, ease provider burden and base criteria on more mature standards. Stage 3 will now focus primarily on increasing clinical decision support use, patient engagement, care coordination and popula- tion health management. Removed recommendations revolved around care planning, documenting patients' family history and electronic medication administration use. The recommendations will be sent to CMS for consideration. Meaningful use stage 3 is scheduled to begin in 2017. n Hospitals' Predicted ROI for Mu2: 9 Statistics By Helen Gregg A pproximately 75 percent of the 298 hospital and health system senior-level IT executives surveyed for the 2014 HIMSS Lead- ership Survey expect their organization will attest to meaning- ful use stage 2. Many of these hospitals expect attestation to pay off financially. The survey found anticipated returns on investments for reaching mean- ingful use stage 2 to be somewhat modest but definite: • 1 percent of respondents anticipate no return • 37 percent expect a return of less than $2 million • 13 percent expect a return of $2 million to $3 million • 3 percent expect a return of $4 million to $5 million • 3 percent expect a return of $6 million to $7 million • 3 percent expect a return of $8 million to $9 million • 3 percent expect a return of $10 million or more • 9 percent are unsure of expected return n Intermountain to Skip Mu Attestation in 2014 By Helen Gregg C iting patient safety concerns and competing priorities, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare has decided not to attest to meaningful use in 2014. At the time of the announcement, Intermountain was in the middle of an organizationwide implementation of a Cerner electronic health record sys- tem. Intermountain leaders decided the risks of pursuing meaningful use attestation during the transition, especially to patient safety, outweigh the benefits, according to a statement provided by the health system. Intermountain will meet other payment reform deadlines, and several In- termountain hospitals will attest to year 2 of meaningful use stage 1 using the organization's legacy EHR system. By not attesting in fiscal year 2014, Intermountain will both forgo incentive payments for this year as well as trigger financial penalties in 2016. Despite urging from industry stakeholders to relax the meaningful use timeline, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced at HIMSS' 2014 conference in Orlando that the attestation deadline would not move, though there will be some flexibility in hardship exemptions in 2014. n For more information, call 425-657-0494 or visit our website at www.eveia.com Eveia's Clients: · Ambulatory Surgery Centers · Surgical Hospitals · Health Systems · Physician Practices · Anesthesiologists Operations Compliance & Consulting Services Preparing for excellence Provider Business Services Optimizing opportunity Provider Contracting Services Reimbursement experts

• Cover