EHR Incentive Payments Contingent on "Meaningful Use" of EHR Software
The most common question posed by private medical practices concerning the incentive payments available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA") goes something along the lines of: "how do you actually get the money"?
Well, as you can imagine, the government won't just mail you a check. Non-hospital based providers will be eligible to receive up to $44,000.00 in bonus payments from Medicare, over an above the allowed Medicare charges. The incentive payments will either be broken down into several partial payments throughout the calender year, or they will be paid in a lump sum; the technicalities are yet to be worked out.
However, in order to be eligible for the incentive payments, providers must make "meaningful use" of their EHR software. “Meaningful use” is not specifically defined in the ARRA, but the ARRA does give the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) advisory guidance regarding how to determine its meaning.
On April 29, 2009, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, the key advisory panel to HHS on Health Information Technology, held a two-day hearing on "meaningful use" of EHR systems. To date, no determination as to the definition of "meaningful use" has been made, but an HHS rulemaking determining its statutory definition is expected this year.
