Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record EHR Incentive Programs
There’s a lot of talk right now about electronic health records, and how health care professionals and hospitals are going to pay for them.
So you probably have a lot of questions about them as well: Am I eligible to receive incentive payments under the Medicare & Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs? When does the programs begin? How much are the incentive payments? What do I need to participate?
It’s important that you have a reliable resource to turn to for accurate information. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the federal agency establishing these incentive programs. The CMS website is the official federal source for facts about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. The site contains up-to-date resources that will give you the insight you need to make educated decisions.
Avoid reading false or misleading information. Get the facts from the federal source – the CMS Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs website. Visit http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms today.
The Official Web Site for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
This official web site provides up-to-date, detailed information about the Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive programs. Use the tabs to the left to find additional information regarding various aspects of the program.
Background
The nation’s healthcare system is undergoing a transformation in an effort to improve quality, safety and efficiency of care, from the upgrade to ICD-10 to information exchanges of EHR technology. To help facilitate this vision, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or the “HITECH Act” established programs under Medicare and Medicaid to provide incentive payments for the “meaningful use” of certified EHR technology. The Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs will provide incentive payments to eligible professionals and eligible hospitals as they adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology. The programs begin in 2011. These incentive programs are designed to support providers in this period of Health IT transition and instill the use of EHRs in meaningful ways to help our nation to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of patient health care.
NOTE: This is a new program, and it is separate from other active CMS incentive programs, such as Physicians Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update (RHQDAPU) and e-Prescribing.
Establishing the New Program
CMS is establishing the EHR Incentive program through formal rule making. A proposed rule on the EHR incentive programs (and the definition of meaningful use) was published, and CMS accepted public comments for 60 days, which ended on March 15, 2010. More than 2,000 comments were received. CMS published the final rule on July 28, 2010. This rule provides many of the parameters and requirements for the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. A copy of the final rule and related documents is accessible below.
CMS’ Role in Other HITECH Areas
CMS also worked with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in developing standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology. More information on certification can be found in the tab on the left.
Patient privacy and security is an important consideration in implementing the EHR incentive programs. CMS is also working with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and ONC to address the privacy and security protections under HITECH Act. More information on privacy and security related to the Health IT is available by clicking “Health IT/Privacy and Security” and “HHS Office for Civil Rights” in the Related Links Outside CMS section below.
