Seventy-one percent of physicians believe the promise of reduced costs resulting from increased use of health IT is inflated and that HIT will actually end up costing more, according to an insights paper released by Deloitte.

The American Academy of Family Physicians, American Medical Association and other medical societies have written letters urging HHS to postpone drafting stage 3 standards for meaningful use of electronic health record systems until it studies how the stage 1 criteria have worked in physician offices, according to a Medscape Medical News report.

CMS released the stage 2 final rule for meaningful use in August 2012. For hospitals that started the meaningful use process in 2011, they will not be required to begin reporting against the stage 2 requirements until July 1, 2014. Although 2014 may seem like quite a distance away, the next 21 months will move very quickly, especially given the many competing priorities hospitals have. According to Laura Kreofsky, a Principal at Impact Advisors, a healthcare technology consulting firm, hospitals should make it a point to start preparing for stage 2 meaningful use regardless of their status with stage 1.

CMS has posted the names, business phone numbers and business addresses of Medicare eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals that have successfully demonstrated meaningful use and received payments as of March 2012.