Stimulus Package Gives Healthcare a shot in the arm

The economic stimulus package recently signed into law by President Obama is looking to invest billions of dollars in the adoption and use of Health Information Technology, such as electronic health records, in doctor's offices and hospitals across the country.

The stimulus package includes more than $20 billion for health IT over six years, and is designed to encourage physicians to abandon their paper based record-keeping and make the switch to cheaper more secure electronic record-keeping.

Most of these funds— $17 billion worth—will be incentives in the form of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for physicians and hospitals that adopt electronic records systems. Beginning in 2011, doctor's offices using health information technologies will be eligible for $40,000 - $65,000 in incentives, and hospitals will be eligible for several million more, and would be phased out over time with penalties for those physicians who fail to adopt e-records within five years.

The intention is to bring the healthcare industry into a new era of information management, in which critical patient information— such as test results, prescriptions, and medical history— can all be securely stored and accessed from a neighborhood doctor's office, hospital, or in-home physician. The ultimate goal is that one day patients will soon be able to access their own records, further reducing the burden on hospitals.

Here's how the plan breaks down:

Total devoted to Physician and Electronic records: $ 19 Billion

• $17 Billion in grants as it relates to Medicare and Medicaid and
• $2 Billion in other grants to doctors who comply with the electronic standards.

Summary of the $17 Billion Health Information Technology (HIT) provisions:

• Provides temporary bonus payments ranging from $44,000 to $75,000 for physicians and up to $11 million for hospitals that "meaningfully" use electronic health records.
• Physicians can get up to $ 44,000- spread over 5 years, based on a maximum schedule per year if they are early adopters. Or $ 75,000 if they meet high volume standards of patient records
• (The re-imbursements from Medicare and Medicaid decrease each year after 2014 if the practice is not electronic.)
• Phases-in Medicare payment penalties for those physicians and hospitals not using electronic health records starting in 2014.
• Supports Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for critical access hospitals, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, children's hospitals, and others.
• The best part, it's expected to generate savings of over $12 billion through improvements in quality of care and care coordination and reductions in medical errors and duplicative care.

Summary of the $2 Billion in Grants for Standards Adoption, and Privacy Protections:

• Provides $2 billion in immediate funding (2010) for health information technology infrastructure, training, dissemination of best practices, telemedicine, inclusion of health information technology in clinical education, and state grants to promote health information technology.
• Improves and expands current federal privacy and security protections for health information such as requiring that an individual be notified if there is an unauthorized disclosure or use of their health information and requiring a patient's permission to use their personal health information for marketing purposes.
• Codifies the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) and establishes an open and transparent process led by the National Coordinator to develop standards by 2010 that allow for secure nationwide electronic exchange of health information.

For more information on Health Information Technology stimulus provisions and how you may qualify, or to learn more about electronic records management technology, click here or dial 1-888-726-7730 to speak with a PaperFree consultant directly.