The AMA thinks that meaningful use of an electronic health record (EHR) system will be easier to achieve thanks to changes made in the final rule, but says it's not enough. "Challenges still remain that will make it difficult for physicians to meet the requirements - especially physicians in solo and small practices," said AMA Board Member Steven J. Stack, MD, in a prepared statement.

While the group praised some of the changes -- such as physician choice in which meaningful use criteria they'll meet, lower thresholds for mandatory criteria -- there's still two key problems the AMA still has (read more) ...

There are three big takeaways physician practices should note in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program final rule.

1. You only need to report 20 meaningful use objectives, not all of the 25 measures in the proposed rule released six months ago.
2. You either meet meaningful use requirements by the end of 2014 or face the consequences. Medicare payments will drop by 1% in 2015 for those who fail to (meaningfully) use an EHR in 2014.
3. It's unclear how you will show or report to CMS that you are meeting meaningful use requirements.

Click here for more on the meaningful use rule

Your providers' take-home paychecks from 2009 tell a mixed story, according to the MGMA's 2010 Physician Compensation and Production Survey, the group's annual tome of facts and figures on physician pay. Dermatologists and opthalmologists saw 12.2% and 7.7% pay boosts respectively, while OB/GYNs saw a 1.1% decrease and invasive cardiologists and hematology/oncology saw their paychecks flatline. Primary care doctors enjoyed a modest 2.8% increase.

The group offers a few reasons for dermatology and ophthalmology's big gains; the former's is explained by their "ability to offer elective procedures not covered by insurance and collect the full fee at time of serve" while ophthalmologists are enjoying the profits of increasingly popular laser-refractive surgery, another non-covered service ... (read full post)

The final rule for the Electronic Health Record Incentive Program detailing meaningful use standards is out. We've uploaded it to the PBN Library's Hot Documents folder.

For more on the EHR meaningful use rule

The chart below, edited for the blog, appears in the proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. It illustrates the need for a permanent Medicare payment fix, showing the impact of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) on physician payments over the next six months.

The picture looks bad with payments for high volume services dropping between 2% and 12%, but it's even worse considering the 2010 payments are about 23% less than what is paid today. For example, 99203 (Office/outpatient visit, new) currently pays $99.93, but it's set to pay $76.93 on Dec. 1 and $72.67 on Jan. 1.

Part B News subscribers can see current 2010 Medicare payments along side the December 2010 and January 2011 payments.

Read more on Medicare payments