Provisions for Electronic Health Record Incentives and Infrastructure Enhancements
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act makes special provisions for physicians accepting Medicare and Medicaid through the HITECH Act, which appropriates $19.2 billion to encourage healthcare organizations to adopt and utilize Electronic Health Records. Outside of the HITECH Act, additional funds are included for infrastructure enhancements to Federally Qualified Health Centers or FQHCs.
Here are some details about how those incentives are expected to roll out to these target groups.
Medicare Incentives: Physicians who accept Medicare can receive up to $44,000 over the five years. Additionally, physicians operating in a "provider shortage area" will be eligible for an incremental increase of 10%. Those delivering care entirely in a hospital environment, such as anesthesiologists, pathologists and ED physicians, are ineligible.
According to the Medicare HIT provisions in the economic recovery legislation, physicians who "meaningfully use" an approved HIT system beginning in 2011 are eligible to receive as much as 75 percent of their Medicare allowed charges as an HIT incentive, up to the maximum incentive payment for that year.
The bill provides an even higher payment ceiling for "early adopters," defined as physicians who first begin "meaningful use" of HIT systems in 2011 -- the first year payment incentives will be available -- or 2012. These physicians could receive as much as $18,000 the first year they adopt the technology. For example, if such a physician's allowed charges in 2011 or 2012 total $24,000 or more, he or she would receive the full $18,000 bonus that year.
Potential annual incentives per provider through 2016
(View chart of annual incentives)
Electronic Health Record utilization first demonstrated in 2011: $44,000
Electronic Health Record utilization first demonstrated in 2012: $42,000
Electronic Health Record utilization first demonstrated in 2013: $39,000
Electronic Health Record utilization first demonstrated in 2014: $24,000
Electronic Health Record utilization first demonstrated in 2015 or after: $0
Medicaid Incentives: Physicians who see more than 30% of patients paying with Medicaid (20% for pediatricians) are eligible for payments of up to $64,000 over five years. The incentives will be calculated through a formula that factors in the exact Medicaid mix seen by the provider as well as amounts ranging from $25,000 in the first year to $10,000 in subsequent years. Because pediatricians are required to meet a lower threshold they are only eligible for 66% of the incentive payments described above.
Federally Qualified Health Centers:Separate from the HITECH Act but included in the Stimulus bill is funding to support building and renovating Federally Qualified Health Centers and increasing their use of health IT, Electronic Health Records. Also included are provisions for telemedicine services adoption for Indian Health Services organizations, and improving the technology used to process disability claims (and what role Electronic Health Records can play in that modernization effort).
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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Updates
The allocation and distribution of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds is still being determined. To stay up to date on announcements about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act subscribe to our eBrief updates. We will email details to you as they become available in addition to tools that can help your practice make the most of these funds.
FOOTNOTE: CCHIT Certified SM is a service mark of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.
