The adoption of electronic medical records continues apace.
Nearly 91,000 health-care providers have received $653.3 million in Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments so far this year for meeting federal guidelines for the meaningful use of electronic health records. The total represents about 71,500 Medicare providers, 17,200 Medicaid providers, and 1,900 hospitals that have met both Medicaid and Medicare EHR requirements.
The figures represent payments made between May 19, when the program began, and the end of August. The data were released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources agency that oversees the incentive payment program, and posted Thursday by ModernHealthcare. Not all states are participating in the program yet.
The payments break down this way:
- $43.4 million for Medicare providers.
- $126.8 million for Medicaid providers.
- $220.9 million in hospital Medicare payments.
- $262.2 million in hospital Medicaid payments.
The program appears to be gaining momentum. Of the $653 million paid out year to date, $264.6 million was disbursed in August, according to the CMS report.
John Pulley
John Pulley has written the Health IT Update blog since May 2011. Prior to becoming a regular contributor to Nextgov, he covered technology for Federal Computer Week and Government Health IT magazines. He has written about government for Federal Times and Air Force Times, as well. Pulley has worked in journalism for more than 20 years. He began his career covering local government for regional newspapers. In addition, he served as a writer and senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education for seven years. In 2006, he founded The Pulley Group, an editorial services agency.

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