Meditab Software Inc.
CMS has paid out $37M in EHR incentives so far
WASHINGTON – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced $37,570,328.55 disbursed under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs so far this year.
The announcement came by Twitter, on Friday morning. “Get your share,” the CMS advised its Twitter followers.
CMS is holding two national calls on registration for the Medicare EHR Incentive Programs. Registration instructions for both calls are included below. A call for Eligible Professionals will be held on Friday April 1st at 10:30am PST‚ and a call for Eligible Hospitals will be held on Wednesday, April 6th at 10:30am PST. Please be aware that each call will have information specific to the intended audience (professional or hospital), so please plan to attend the call appropriate for you. When you register, you will have the opportunity to enter in specific questions that you would like to see included on the particular call. Registration is limited, so if you are interested, please register as soon as possible.
CMS officials said earlier this year it plans to mail incentive checks beginning in May.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) reported last month that some 14,000 eligible providers have registered for the program since it opened Jan. 3, with more flooding in on a daily basis.
On March 18, CMS updated its EHR incentive programFAQ webpageanswering more than 100 questions about the program, 45 of which are on meaningful use.
The agency has recently been surrounded by controversy over the measurements it proposes to use to qualify providers for incentive payments in 2013 under Stage 2 of the program. Many providers feel the suggested measures are too hard to achieve in the amount of time available.
On Tuesday, a federal advisory workgroup discussed options for slowing down the pace, so providers can qualify, while maintaining the adoption momentum the government would like to achieve.
Despite all the talk of incentive requirements, providers who do not adopt EHRs will face penalties in Medicare payments in 2017.
Source: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news
