Platinum MD

ARRA

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, known as the Stimulus Package, was signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The proposed investment for Health Information Technology is at $19.2 Billion for the use of EHR-EMR/PM. This part of the bill is called the HIT for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act.

Funding

President Obama promised $50 Billion over the next five years to improve IT within the Healthcare sector, while planning to offer incentives of $17 Billion through Medicare and Medicaid, further encouraging providers to adopt certified EHR-EMR/PM.

The Objective

• Lower health care costs
• Reduce medical errors
• Improve access to data as with Health Information Technology
• Create opportunities to improve business intelligence programs
• Improve overall quality of care

Physician Incentive

Physician incentives are allocated through Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements, in addition to monies available through grant programs. Physicians can start earning incentives in 2011 by demonstrating “meaningful use” of EHR-EMR/PM. There are additional incentives available with e-prescribing and the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative.

Medicare Incentive

Those providers not adopting certified EHR-EMR/PM by 2015 will see reductions in their Medicare based reimbursements of 1% in 2015, 2% in 2016 and 3 % in 2017, up to 7% after 2017. The possible maximum incentive offered totals $44,000 per physician for Medicare. To receive the full amount, physicians must be truly implementing EHR-EMR/PM by 2012: no payment will be made available after 2015.

Medicaid Incentive

Under the ARRA, providers under the Medicaid incentive will earn from $21,250 to $25,000 for the first year, totaling up to $63,500 over a five year span. Providers will get incentives either from Medicare or from Medicaid, not both.

A Very Important Aside

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that approximately 90% of doctors and 70% of hospitals will be using EHR-EMR/PM systems within the next decade.