On July 23, a group of hospital and health system CIOs called for an extension of meaningful use stage 2 in a hearing before the Health IT Standards Committee.
Rodney Dykehouse, CIO of Penn State Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center and College of Medicine, explained the time crunch his organization and others face in preparing for meaningful use stage 2. Under the current schedule, there's not enough time to “design, build, test, implement, measure” the new system, he said. He said while his team is doing what it can to prepare, much is dependant on the vendor's final product, not due out until October.
"Stage 2 should start in October 2013 for those that are ready," said Pamela McNutt, senior vice president and CIO of Methodist Health System in Dallas. "But providers need an extended timeframe for compliance, well beyond Sept. 30, 2014, due to the short timeframes most providers will have after receiving their certified upgrades. There should also be allowances for more phasing in of the more difficult measures."
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