As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is authorized to provide a reimbursement incentive for eligible Medicare and Medicaid providers (physician and hospital providers) who are successful in implementing electronic health records and achieving “meaningful use,” as defined by the U.S. DHHS. These federal Medicare/Medicaid incentive payments will begin in 2011 and gradually phase down. Starting in 2015, providers are expected to have adopted and be actively utilizing an EHR in compliance with the “meaningful use” definition or they will be subject to financial penalties under Medicare.

Stimulus funding for eligible, participating practices who implement EHRs will range from a maximum of $44,000 per eligible provider over five years under Medicare or $63,750 maximum under Medicaid. Again, these funds will be available to eligible centers/providers who acquire an EHR and demonstrate they are using the technology to improve the health of patients through "meaningful use" of the EHR and its data.  (The WVRHITEC will assist eligible providers in meeting these goals.)

CMS EHR Incentive Program FAQs - click to read

This is the term being used by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) to describe the criteria  eligible providers must meet to qualify for to receive future financial incentives for using electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful manner.

For purposes of the Medicare incentive payments for meaningful use of certified EHR technology, eligible professionals are defined in the proposed rule available at http://healthit.hhs.gov/meaningfuluse. For Medicare, an eligible provider (EP) is a doctor of medicine or osteopathy, a doctor of dental surgery or dental medicine, a doctor of podiatric medicine, a doctor of optometry, or a chiropractor, who is legally authorized to practice under state law. Eligible hospitals include acute care hospitals and critical access hospitals.

For Medicaid, eligible professionals (EPs) are physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants practicing predominantly in a Federally Qualified Health Center or Rural Health Clinic (FQHC/RHC) that is directed by a physician assistant. Eligible hospitals that may participate are acute care hospitals and children’s hospitals.

NOTE: hospital-based eligible professionals who furnish substantially all their services in a “hospital inpatient or emergency room setting” are not eligible for incentive payments.

 

W.Va. Medicaid Professionals: Financial Incentives Available for Electronic Health Records: click to read

W.Va. Medicaid Hospitals: Financial Incentives Available for Electronic Health Records: click to read