New Bill Would Spare Pathologists From Penalties Under Meaningful Use Program

Pathology groups have long felt shut out of financial incentives under the Meaningful Use (MU) program of electronic health records (EHRs) while at the same time they faced penalties for not participating. New legislation (H.R. 1309, the Health Information Technology Reform Act) would remedy that permanently. It would exempt pathologists from participating in the program and protect them from penalties for failing to meet federal requirements for meaningful use of EHRs. Under the program, incentive payments are awarded to Medicare and Medicaid physicians who can demonstrate meaningful use based on a set of strict specific requirements. But starting in 2015, doctors who fail to do so will face a 1 percent penalty of their Medicare payments, and it could rise to as much as 5 percent in 2017 and beyond, warns the College of American Pathologists (CAP). The MU requirements are geared toward office-based physicians and hospitals, so most pathologists are unable to participate in the current program, CAP says, “because the requirements do not allow for differences among physician practices, and specialists like pathologists who practice in medical labs using laboratory information systems, rather than EHRs, cannot meet the prescribed requirements.” Under lobbying by CAP, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services granted pathologists a hardship exception from penalties in 2015, but the exception is only for one year at a time, up to five years. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Price, M.D., (R-Ga.) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), both members of the House Ways and Means Committee. It has been referred to that committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee.