A Massachusetts law passed in 2012 sets competency with some health IT systems, including electronic health records, as a prerequisite for physician licensure starting in 2015.
The requirement was part of the law's larger goal of reducing costs while improving care quality. Under Chapter 224 of the Acts of 2012, physicians would have to be able to meet meaningful use standards to receive licensure. However, the Massachusetts Medical Society worries the vague language in the law could result in license renewals being denied to longtime physicians or to residents and interns who are not eligible for meaningful use.
"Massachusetts has a very high certification rate for meaningful use with over 14,000 individual physicians having met the requirements for stage 1," said the Society in a news release. "However, there are 40,000 licensed physicians in Massachusetts. Strict interpretation of the language from Chapter 224 would lead to denials of licensure renewal for 26,000 physicians. Physicians have a legal right to renew their licenses and the public needs the services physicians provide."
The Society is therefore advocating the passage of House 1925, which would amend Chapter 224's language to remove the meaningful use stipulation while still promoting EHR training for physicians, and would also delay the requirement's start date until 2017.
Last week, state representatives added language to the bill to further clarify the requirement to allow physicians not currently using EHRs to demonstrate their ability to do so directly to the Board of Registration in Medicine, according to a report in Go Local Worchester. The bill has been referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health.
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