Hospitals continue to struggle with Meaningful Use Stage 2 attestation

The number of providers attesting to Meaningful Use in 2014 remains rather paltry, with only 1 percent of eligible professionals (EPs) and 3 percent of eligible hospitals (EHs) attesting so far, according to the latest data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Elisabeth Myers, in CMS' Office of eStandards and Services, reported to the Health IT Policy Committee on July 8 that as of July 1, only 2,823 EPs have attested in the 2014 reporting year; of those only 972 have attested to Stage 2 of the incentive program.

The numbers for hospitals are worse; only 10 of the 128 hospitals that have attested for the 2014 reporting year have attested to Stage 2.

Most attestations in prior years have occurred in the third and fourth quarters, according to CMS data. 

So far, only eight vendors have been used for Stage 2 attestation by EPs in 2014, compared to 37 vendors for Stage 1. Of those eight, athenahealth was used for almost two-thirds (61 percent) of attestations, followed by Epic with 20 percent. Only five vendors have been used to help EHs attest to Stage 2 in 2014, compared to 13 for Stage 1. Of the five, Cerner was used for one-third of the Stage 2 attestations, followed by CPSI and MEDITECH with 22 percent each.

National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo also reiterated at the meeting how its workgroups would be configured as some of them "sunset" and others are bundled. There now will be six workgroups, including:

  • Health IT strategy and innovation
  • Advanced health models and Meaningful Use
  • Health IT implementation, usability and safety
  • Interoperability and health information exchange
  • Privacy and security
  • Consumer perspective and engagement  

Providers have been struggling to transition to Stage 2 of the Meaningful Use program, in large part because vendors have run into trouble upgrading their products. CMS issued a proposed rule in May that would allow some certification flexibility in attesting in 2014.

To learn more:
- check out CMS' figures (.ppt)