The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services extended the comment period for Stage 3 meaningful use this past month, and the comments continue to roll in. More than 170 stakeholders have weighed in on the CMS website so far – most sounding off, expressing frustration.

Here is a sampling. For the full comment, click the name:

Sheri Rosenfeld – New York
As a 56 year old physician who has practiced internal medcine for greater than 25 years, i am amazed at the govt adoption of ehr and meaningful use. You are effectively turning good caring doctors into data entry technicians. EHR is useless in that we still cannot obtain info from other doctors or on hospitalizations that dont occur within our own network…

Walter Wood – California
EHRs may be adopted by physicians if and when they conclude EHRs make their practice more efficient and better. So far this has NOT been the case - -- EHRs have been hugely expensive and difficult to use, detracting from attention to the patient, a burden to most of those who have adopted them. Fee for service has always been "value based" - - and provides the best incentives to provide the best care…

Sandra Resnick – California
There is no incentive to do this continuous, laborious, mundane, maddening stressful, tear jerking research for your program. I went into medicine to take care of people, not computers…

Craig Backs – Illinois
I do not plan to participate in stage 2 or 3. I will accept the penalties as less onerous than the time and artificial and harmful constraints created on individualized and optimal patient care. Personally, I don't care what it looks like. As a leader in my profession, for those who are too committed to programs that feel they must comply, the program needs to be more flexible to account for differences in practice situations…

Alan Kubey – Minnesota
EHRs have the potential to dramatically improve care -- unfortunately in their current form they are often more of a burden of additional work than a support system. The most important action the federal government can take to improve care (and dramatically reduce costs) is to make EHRs communicate data in real-time. That I can stream a HD move instantaneously over the internet but literally have to fax paper back and forth to determine outside labs, imaging, medication regimens, MD assessment and plans is maddening...

Linda Winegardner – North Carolina
I am a female solo practitioner (Family Medicine), 55 years old, and have been practicing medicine for almost 25 years. I have embraced the EHR and find it to be a valuable tool for e-prescribing and tracking various chronic health issues. It is not all bad but... my IT costs and labor associated with the more complex technology, have increased dramatically while my reimbursement has actually declined...

Kedar Gokhale – New Jersey
I'm spending more time than ever documenting encounters and leaving less time for patients and for my personal and family life.

Specific suggestions include:
1.Remove the MU program's pass-fail approach
2.Provide more flexibility
3.Ensure EHR systems address interoperability challenges

Browse through all 174 comments here.

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The good, the bad and the ugly of Stage 3 MU
CMS lays out vision for Stage 3 meaningful use
Delay Stage 3 meaningful use, senator urges again