A group of 42 medical societies have banded together to urge a delay in the Meaningful Use program.

Led by the American Medical Association (AMA), the groups believe that "locking in Stage 3 rules for the Meaningful Use program would be an unwise step that undermines the implementation of Medicare payment reforms," according to their plea.

Letters went to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan in which the the physician organizations noted that the proposed Stage 3 regulation was developed prior to and without consideration of the changes enacted by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Meaningful Use plays a vital role in the payment systems introduced by MACRA, they argue, so proceeding with the proposed Stage 3 rules threatens to impede the healthcare delivery innovations Congress sought to promote when it passed the law.

“There is growing bipartisan recognition in Congress that the direction of the Meaningful Use program needs to be reassessed in light of usability and interoperability challenges with electronic health record systems,” said AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD. “Poorly performing systems that do not facilitate the seamless exchange of data would severely undermine the ability of the health system to support the implementation of the payment reforms outlined in MACRA.”

Pausing Stage 3 provides the opportunity to evaluate the environment and work with the administration to implement the needed changes to the Meaningful Use program that are currently under consideration, the groups said.

“The AMA wants the Meaningful Use program to succeed. Pausing to reassess Stage 3 rules will not stop or delay progress with EHRs,” said Stack. “On the contrary, we firmly believe a temporary period of reevaluation will help move the program forward and drive innovation and adoption.”