The Connecticut State Medical Society joined with 49 other state medical societies and 63 national medical associations in signing a letter to House and Senate leadership. The letter expressed strong concerns with the Administration's decision to move ahead with implementation of Stage 3 of the Meaningful Use program, despite the widespread failure of Stage 2.

While the overall goal of the HITECH Act, namely to promote widespread adoption of electronic health records by physicians and hospitals, has largely been achieved, the Stage 3 requirements are inconsistent with the goal of promoting better coordinated and high quality patient care. Congressional action to refocus this program is urgently needed before physicians, frustrated by the near impossibility of compliance with meaningless and ill-informed bureaucratic requirements, abandon the program completely., the it is time for Congress to act to refocus the Meaningful Use program on the goal of achieving a truly interoperable system of electronic health records that will support, rather than hinder, the delivery of high quality care.

Read the full letter to the House here.   Read the full letter to the Senate here.