The Troubling State Of EHR Progress

By Ken Congdon

When attestations for Stage 1 of the EHR Meaningful Use (MU) program began in 2011, it seemed like the healthcare industry was on the right path to ushering in a fruitful digital era that would benefit clinicians and patients alike. However, recently, the train of EHR progress has started to come off the rails. Issues clearly began to manifest themselves when the Stage 2 MU attestation period began in 2014. Many healthcare providers believed the leap from Stage 1 to Stage 2 MU was much too severe — particularly the criteria surrounding patient engagement. Providers also began to cite poor software usability and lack of interoperability as clear roadblocks to achieving many of the Stage 2 MU requirements.