More than 30 healthcare provider organizations have banded together to urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to adopt a 90-day reporting period for meaningful use measures in 2016, rather than full-year reporting as CMS has proposed.

Providers proved successful when they rallied for 90-day reporting for 2015.

[Also: Meaningful use will still be part of MIPS reimbursement]

In a March 15 letter to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, the groups said the changes CMS made in the Modified Stage 2 final rule for 2015 provided welcomed relief to the provider community.

As they see it, full-year reporting in 2016 would demand complex system changes: "For many providers, these system changes will impact their ability to comply with the full-year reporting period," they wrote.

CHIME, which represents more than 1,800 healthcare chief information officers, is leading the call for 90-day reporting.

[Also: Healthcare industry cheers meaningful use modifications]

"Healthcare providers are firmly committed to using information technology to transform the delivery system," CHIME Board Chair Marc Probst, CIO at Intermountain Healthcare, and CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell, said in a joint statement. "Changes made to the meaningful use program last year provided welcomed relief from burdensome regulatory requirements.”

"Providers now are awaiting further changes to the program spurred by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. However, the current regulatory scheme still calls for a 365-day reporting period. Until the final MACRA rules are issued, providers will be greatly challenged to meet the reporting requirements,” they said.

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"Maintaining 365-day reporting period also will force providers to pull resources away from using health IT to innovate care processes and workflows. Additionally, it will limit the amount of time providers and vendors could spend on improving interoperability and information exchange."

Organizations supporting the change are:

American Academy of Dermatology Association
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Neurology
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American College of Cardiology
American College of Mohs Surgery
American College of Physicians
American College of Rheumatology
American College of Surgeons
American Gastroenterological Association
American Society for Dermatologic Surgery
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
American Society of Nuclear Cardiology
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Urological Association
America’s Essential Hospitals
Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems
Cardiology Advocacy Alliance
Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations
College of Healthcare Information Management Executives
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Federation of American Hospitals
Heart Rhythm Society
Infectious Diseases Society of America
Medical Group Management Association
National Association of Spine Specialists
National Rural Health Association
Oncology Nursing Society
Premier healthcare alliance
Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions
United Surgical Partners International

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN