EHR incentive payments soar beyond $19 billion

Strong momentum continues for the meaningful use program as CMS revealed that it has disbursed more than $19 billion in reimbursement incentives.

Indeed, there were 440, 998 registered providers participating in the federal electronic health record incentive program as of the end of 2013, with $19.2 billion paid out in incentives, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Approximately 88 percent of all eligible hospitals have received an EHR incentive payment so far, said Robert Anthony, deputy director at the CMS Office of E-Health Standards and Service at Tuesday’s Health Information Technology Policy Committee Meeting.

Anthony reported that as of Dec. 31, 2013:

• Nearly 9 out of 10 eligible hospitals have made a financial commitment to an EHR

• Approximately 60 percent, or 3 out of every 5 Medicare eligible providers (EPs) are meaningful users of EHRs

• Approximately 78 percent, or nearly 4 out of every 5 Medicaid EPs have received an EHR incentive payment;

• Twenty percent of Medicaid EPs are meaningful users;

• Almost 63 percent, or 3 out of every 5 Medicare and Medicaid EPs have made a financial commitment to an EHR;

• More than 340,000 Medicare and Medicaid EPs have received an EHR incentive payment.

CMS also released the results of a 2013 National Electronic Health Records Survey, which revealed that of the physicians who intend to participate in the meaningful use program, 19 percent had adopted all 14 of the 17 Stage 2 Core objectives.

The HITECH Act, which mandated the program, did not set a cap on how much the federal government can spend on meaningful use incentives.

(SOURCE: www.govhealthit.com)