To be sure, the deadlines for complying with the government's meaningful use rules are ambitious. Eligible professionals have a tremendous amount of work to get done if they hope to qualify for incentive payments while avoiding penalties. While the timeline is aggressive, there are things providers can do to meet them.

For example, Kimberly Bowden, the president and CEO of the healthcare IT recruiting firm 1st Solutions USA, told Becker's Hospital Review that creating a sense of urgency around EHR implementation is one of the best ways to get staff to complete IT projects on schedule.

She said that if EHR implementation is treated like any other IT project, staff may not get things done in time. However, if there is a strong sense of urgency surrounding the initiative, people are more likely to push to meet deadlines.

"In 2010, everyone started waking up and said, 'this deadline is coming up fast, and we might be far behind,'" Bowden told the news source. "The last time there was this type of urgency was Y2K. But this deadline is worse because it's affecting pocket books and reimbursements."

Creating this sense of urgency is part of the planning and communication phases of EHR implementation, which the American Medical Association says is one of the most important steps in the process.