Healthcare eNewsletter May/June 2009

 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) 

The legislation provides immediate funding for health information technology infrastructure, training, dissemination of best practices, telemedicine, inclusion of health information technology in clinical education, and State grants to promote health information technology.

In addition, the legislation provides significant financial incentives through the Medicare and Medicaid programs to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt and use certified electronic health records. Providers will receive incentive payments through additional reimbursements via either Medicare or Medicaid, depending upon the individual physician's payor mix.  Physicians will be eligible for $40,000 to $65,000 for showing that they are meaningfully using health information technology, such as through the reporting of quality measures.  Hospitals will be eligible for several million dollars in the Medicaid and Medicare programs to similarly use health information technology.  Federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, children's hospitals and others will be eligible for funding through the Medicaid program.

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