By Jeff Smith

More than 257,000 eligible professionals (EPs) will receive a 1 percent penalty beginning January 2015 for failure to meet Stage 1 meaningful use (MU) requirements in 2013.

With roughly half of the nation’s EPs receiving penalties in 2015, concerns are mounting over whether MU is fundamentally flawed or whether the education gap is simply far greater than policymakers expected. Regardless, such widespread failure will affect more advanced providers as they progress to Stage 2, and it portends years of industrywide struggle with program participation.

Headlines across the health IT world converged last week on a statistic that surprised many: 257,000 EPs should expect penalties beginning in January for failure to meet MU Stage 1 in 2013, which is roughly half of all EPs. The response from physician groups was swift. The American Medical Association (AMA) called the numbers “appalling,” the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) said the numbers suggest an “overly ambitious” program, and (American Association of Family Practitioners (AAFP) executives said they were “very concerned.”

Physicians had until October 2014 to avoid both the 2013-based and 2014-based penalties. And because there is a two-year “look back” on penalties, it is likely that a similar number will be penalized in 2016 as well. Approximately 200 hospitals were subject to similar penalties, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officials noted during a press briefing.

This dynamic has long been expected by many provider groups that predicted as far back as May 2013 that large numbers of providers would receive penalties because the program was too difficult and the timelines too tight. However, the focus of efforts was largely on the more difficult Stage 2 requirements. In light of the fact that more than a quarter million EPs received penalties and 55,00 EPs received hardship exceptions, there is growing evidence to suggest the 2015 program year will be even more difficult, particularly because about 260,000 EPs must demonstrate Stage 2 requirements over 365 days.