Inconsistent Results Found In Meeting Stage 2 Core Measures
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
An ONC report reveals 87 percent of providers took an exclusion for electronic summary of care information.
A data analytics update compiled by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released early 2014 attestation data demonstrating that, when it comes to Stage 2 core measures attestation, eligible hospitals and professionals are being inconsistent.
The figures indicate 4,656 doctors and other eligible providers and 258 hospitals had attested to Stage 2. The ONC provided the update as part of a Health IT Policy Committee meeting, sharing the latest figures for EH and EP performance on Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 2 core measures through September 2014.
To achieve Stage 2 MU attestation, EPs must meet 17 core objectives and three of six menu objectives, while hospitals must meet 16 core measures and three of six menu objectives. Politico suggests the low attestation number could be a reflection of issues encountered by electronic health record (EHR) vendors and providers in achieving Stage 2 MU.
According to Health Data Management, the data assesses Stage 2 attestation performance for about 4,600 Medicare professionals. Of those professionals, 87 percent of EPs took an exclusion for electronic summary of care information, 54 percent requested exclusions for the immunization reporting measure, and 48 percent took an exclusion for use of computerized provider order entry for radiology orders.
Health Data Management wrote the ONC’s Dawn Heisey-Grove, who presented the update, explained almost all of the immunization reporting measure exclusions (93 percent) were requested because EPs did not administer vaccinations.
Among those who did not take exclusions, the success rates were not stellar with only 18 percent able to successfully send electronic summaries more than 80 percent of the time. As Politico reports, when it came to measuring the capacity to share data with patients, the score were even lower. While 65 percent of attestors’ patients could access records online, only 10 percent of providers got patients to download records over half the time. And ONC found only 10 percent of providers were able to send electronic care summaries to patients with 50 percent success rates.
ONC did emphasize that the data represents an improvement over data collected over the summer, slight as it might be. Heisey-Grove said, according to Health Data Management, that the attestation performance of about 250 hospitals shows they “are staying in the lower bounds of the thresholds for the summary of care sent electronically measure, which is brand new to Stage 2, as well as getting their patients to actually view, download or transmit the measure, which is also new to Stage 2.”
According to the update, 9 out of 10 Stage 2 hospitals reported electronic exchange of data with public health agencies, with 72 percent using EHRs engaging in public health exchange in all 3 categories (immunization registry, electronic laboratory results, and syndromic surveillance reporting), and a full 94 percent reporting in at least one of the three categories.
Health Data Management reports Heisey-Grove emphasized the preliminary nature of the Stage 2 core measures data, since it does not account for the roughly 6,800 EPs and almost 600 hospitals that have reached attestation since September 30.