Achieve HIT

The Economic Stimulus Legislation

The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides significant incentives for physicians and other providers to adopt electronic health records (EHRs). The ARRA health information technology (HIT) funding in the economic stimulus package is designed to accelerate EHR use and reduce cost by improving quality, safety, and efficiency. Physicians, hospitals and health systems can benefit from the incentives—whether through first-time deployment of EHRs or completion of existing health IT projects. In short:

• There are significant financial incentives for use of certified EHRs:
  • Up to $64,000 per physician
  • Approximately $2-8 million per hospital

   

• Funds become available:
  • Jan. 1, 2011 for office-based physicians
  • Oct. 1, 2010 for hospitals

Since the legislation became law, there’s been a flurry of activity including the naming of Kathleen Sebelius to head the Department of Health and Human Services and Dr. David Blumenthal as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. In addition, the federal Health IT Policy Committee Workgroup released its initial recommendations for defining “meaningful use” of EHRs in mid-June. Many industry experts provided their views on the initial definitions of meaningful use as well as requirements for EHR certification. Many steps remain before the final ruling on meaningful use, which is not expected until early 2010.