The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Among the many provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are incentives for Physicians.  To be eligible     Physicians must treat Medicare and/or Medicaid patients through "meaningful use" of a "qualified EHR system".  Although the incentive program starts in 2011 and extends until 2016 offices must have and use an EHR by 2014 to participate.  Further, the most lucrative incentives are available to early adopters and current users of EHR systems as the incentives are greatest for 2011 and 2012.

The incentive payments may be increased by 10% if Physicians predominately furnish services in an area designated by the Secretary as a health shortage area.  Generally, hospital based Physicians are not eligible for the incentives and bonuses.

The Act is not all incentives.  There are penalties for Physicians who do not demonstrate meaningful use of an EHR as early as 2014.  Generally, the penalties start in 2015 and reduce payment to 99% with reductions each subsequent year but never going below 95%.  The Act also clarifies portions of HIPAA as it relates to privacy protection and enforcement.  Providing guidelines for privacy breach notifications.

Physicians are given several methods of demonstrating "meaningful use" of the EHR system.  These methods may include an attestation, submission of claims with appropriate coding, survey response, and reporting.  In addition to meaningful use Physicians are required to demonstrate that the EHR technology is connected in such a manner that it provides for the exchange of electronic health information to improve quality of care.

Review the steps to getting an EHR for your office

Implementing an EHR is not a trivial undertaking and will affect many aspects of the practice.  In Peer's experience the process of EHR implementation involves six discrete steps:

1. Thoughtful and informed decision to implement

2. Vendor selection

3. Implementation planning

4. Infrastructure deployment

5 EHR Application deployment

6. Training

Click here to learn more about implementing an EHR in your office and about resources for Physicians and Administrators in Oregon.