It's a challenge for most everyone, he says. And just as with ICD-10 (another massive undertaking for practices) the fact that "you're relying on somebody else to do something" – the vendors – "for you as the practice to be successful," makes it all the more challenging.

At the MGMA 2014 Annual Conference, which takes place Oct. 26-28 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, physicians and practice managers can compare notes on how they're fighting the good fight. There will also be plenty of educational sessions where attendees can learn some tips and tricks for managing meaningful use.

Tennant himself will present a session on Monday, "Survive and Thrive in the New HIT Environment," where he'll talk Stage 2, as well as everything from patient identification to mobile health.

Other related sessions include, "Achieving Meaningful Use Patient Electronic Access Requirements," presented by Dennis P.H. Mihale, MD, chief medical officer of Starus Medical Group (Tuesday, Oct. 28); and "Getting Quality Reporting Under Control: Meaningful Use and Beyond," presented by Massachusetts e-Health Collaborative CEO Micky Tripathi and Central Massachusetts IPA CMO Paul Bergeron, MD.

The overwhelmed practice manager could use all the strategies they could get. "Keeping up with all these federal requirements is "like a whack-a-mole," says Tennant. "2015 is going to be an extremely challenging year for practices on the IT and compliance side."

As for MGMA, "We've outlined our concerns for the (meaningful use) program," he said. "We don't think we're being unreasonable. Our suggestions for Stage 2, I think, are eminently reasonable and achievable for both the EPs and for government."

But if there aren't some changes soon, he says, some easing of these multitudinous rules, "those numbers of EPs successfully attesting I don't think are going to climb very high."

Tennant also points to what he calls "the ROI question." If meaningful use requirements become so onerous that they require extensive software modifications, then practices are going to make a calculation of what is in the best interest of the practice: "Is this the time to accept the penalty and not spend the potentially tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade our system, and have decreased productivity as we go live and uncertainty in the practice without a clear benefit, frankly, to the patients themselves?"

The good news, he says, is that "everybody – vendors, hospitals, EPs, the government – everybody wants the same thing: success. It's really just a question of how we achieve that, and what's the definition of success.

"Success is going to be measured in the long term," says Tennant. "How do we get the industry more interoperable and, ultimately, that will lead hopefully to improved efficiency and patient care. That's the success. It's not the money, but rather the end result of the process."