Stimulus Dollars Available for EHR Implementation    

     Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), approximately $19 billion has been allocated to Medicare and Medicaid programs for the purpose of increasing reimbursements to hospitals and physicians who become meaningful EHR users. Under the Medicare program, if a physician or hospital becomes a meaningful EHR user after 2014, they are not entitled to any incentive payments.  Under the Medicare program, in order to become a meaningful EHR user and qualify for full payment of stimulus dollars, providers must demonstrate that they are using certified EHR technology. The technology must be connected in a manner that provides for the electronic exchange of health information to improve the quality of health and they must submit information on clinical quality measures.
     Incentives will begin in 2011, with those achieving meaningful adoption receiving incentives for up to five years. The maximum available for those qualifying in 2011 is $44,000. After 2014, anyone who treats Medicare patients without an EHR will see reimbursements decrease by 1 percent that year. The pay cut grows to 2 percent in 2016 and 3 percent in 2017 and every year afterwards.
     Details of the Medicaid health IT dollars are not as clear, but under the Medicaid incentive program, a larger group of medical professionals is eligible for the funds, as long as they serve a sufficient percentage of Medicaid patients. Unlike Medicare, which only funds doctors and hospitals, eligible professionals under Medicaid include a physician, dentist, certified nurse mid-wife, nurse practitioner, and a physician assistant serving in rural health clinic or federally qualified health center.
     Across five years, practitioners could collect a sum total of $64,000 - calculated as 85 percent of EHR purchase costs not exceeding $25,000 in the first year, followed by 85 percent of the annual maintenance costs not exceeding $10,000 for the next five years. To be eligible for the Medicaid incentive payout, physicians must have a 30 percent Medicaid patient case threshold or 20 percent for pediatricians.  Hospitals and physicians interested in learning more about the Medicare physician HIT stimulus program can contact McAnally at jmcanally@qsource.org or 800.528.2655 ext. 2635.