2009-08-20

Vice President Joseph Biden announced that nearly 1.2 billion dollars in grants are available to help finance and incentivize the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). The Health Information Technology (HIT) initiative is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed earlier this year. ARRA will provide bonus payments for eligible health-care providers and hospitals participating in Medicare and Medicaid if they become meaningful users of certified electronic health records.  These incentive bonuses will begin in 2011. In addition, grants will be used to establish Health Information Regional Extension Centers to provide technical assistance to hospitals and doctors.

For clinicians to be eligible to receive these bonus payments, the EHR must meet the criteria for “meaningful use.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be determining the criteria for certification, which will include a definition of meaningful use. ASH has provided comment to HHS emphasizing the importance of ensuring that eligible doctors in practices of all sizes and specialties are able to take advantage of the incentives specified in ARRA. The comments highlight the concern that there must be an adequate infrastructure and timeline in place to ensure success.

At this time, the accreditation process will most likely be finalized in late 2009 or early 2010.

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