Meaningful Use Incentives Dished Out
Just the Facts from Joe Friday
The numbers you are about to see are all true…
As of August 12, 2011
Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL)
1,049 EHR products 669 Ambulatory and 380 Inpatient. Search the CHPL for certified products and use the CHPL to obtain your product certification number for attestation.
Competency Examination Program
In April 2010, ONC awarded $6 million to develop health IT competency examinations for individuals completing short-term, non-degree training programs, and members of the workforce with relevant experience or others types of training. The six exams consist of 125 multiple-choice questions to be completed in three hours.
For more information on registering for exams, visit the HIT Pro site.
EHR Incentive Programs and Payments
$400 million in meaningful use incentives have been paid to physicians and hospitals. 3,500 EPs and hospitals have been paid under Medicaid and 1,000 EPs and hospitals under Medicare. Approximately 77,000 providers have registered for the CMS EHR incentive program. 2,383 EPs verified meeting meaningful use and 137 attested unsuccessfully. There was an increase from 329 EPs in June to 566 EPs July in the number of EPs who received incentive payments.
There are currently 23 state with EHR Medicaid programs, New Mexico and Wisconson began their programs on August 1.
Survey Says…
A new survey by Sage Healthcare Division and Forrester Research shows EHR incentives are a major reason for increase in adoption of EHRs as 64% of physicians considered meaningful use one of their strongest reasons for implementing EHRs.
Physicians surveyed and who use EHRs:
- 80% have reached their business goals of lowering costs and improving patient service
- 74% say the technology has helped them improve staff efficiency
- 64% measure the success of the technology through reporting and tracking health care outcomes
- 56% agree error reduction is the most tangible benefit of EHRs.