The Health-IT portion of the stimulus package (ARRA) contains $2B for the Office of the National Coordinator to use to promote health-IT adoption and health information exchange. There will be grants and/or loans that will be made available for the states to promote health-IT adoption and health information exchange in their state. There maybe grants to physician practices to help purchase EHRs. We will not know for sure until such grant/loan programs are put in place.
The other $17B in the health-IT portion goes to CMS for incentive payments to physicians (up to $44,000 per physician over 5 years).
Frequently Asked Questions
What money is available to physician practices?
Will there be money upfront to help purchase EHRs?
In general, there will not be upfront money to help purchase EHRs. There should be grants distributed to the states to help with EHR adoption and health information exchange. It is likely that rural and underserved areas will have priority to these funds.
If I already have an EHR, can I qualify for the incentives?
As long as the EHR meets the standards that are to be announced by December 31, 2009, you can qualify for the incentives. Although those standards are not currently defined, the legislation does require functionalities such as:
- decision support
- physician order entry
- health information exchange, and
- quality reporting.
What do I have to do to qualify for the incentives?
There are two terms used in the legislation that need to be defined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Those terms are “qualified system” and “meaningful use.” To qualify for the incentives you must be meaningfully using a qualified system.
If my EHR is CCHIT certified, will it qualify under the incentive program?
Who will be “certifying” EHRs for the incentive program is still unknown. The current CCHIT criteria do not fully encompass the potential requirements for a “qualified system.”
When can I receive the incentives?
No payment can be made before 2011. A table from an ANN article about the HIT stimulus shows how the payments will be made depending on the first year the physician is meaningfully using a qualified system. Physicians participating starting in 2011 will receive $18,000 in 2011, $12,000 in 2012, $8,000 in 2013, $4,000 in 2014, and $2,000 in 2015.
Will there be any money for help during implementation?
Part of the $2B that goes to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology must go to the establishment of a health information technology extension program (modeled after the agriculture extension program). These regional extension offices are to help physician practices and others to adopt, implement, and effectively use health information technology defined in the HIT stimulus package.