What is the HITECH Act?

On February 17, 2009 The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act was signed into law. Included in this act is $19.2 Billion which is to be used to as a financial incentive for the “meaningful use” of CERTIFIED Electronic Health Records (EHR) by doctors and hospitals.

Why does the US government want to promote EHR?

Research shows that EHR systems improve care, increase safety and simplify compliance with government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.  In the long term, it will cut costs by minimizing errors, increasing productivity efficiency.

Please visit HealthAffairs.org for additional information on the potitential benefits and savings associated with investing in an EMR system,.

What does the HITECH Act mean to physicians and hospitals? What incentives are available to me?

The HITTECH Act appropriates $19 Billion for incentive payments, grants and loans to physicians and hospitals.

$17 Billion will be used to make incentive payments to physicians and hospitals that are participants in Medicare and Medicaid programs. The law specifies that payments will be due to BOTH current users and new adopters of “certified” EMR systems, provided thet use the system in a meaningful way. The certification process and the regulations defining “meaningful use” under the Act have NOT yet been defined by the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), but will be decided upon by the end of 2009.  HHS has NOT yet made any reference to partnerships with any existing EMR certification organizations; however, the industry consensus is that CCHIT will certify software.  Our WorldVista Office software is currently certified by CCHIT.

Medicare- Physicians treating Medicare patients will receive up to $44K over the course of 5 years.  The amounts are greater during the first year, meaning the payments are front end loaded. The payout schedule is defined in the table below. The first row represents the year you adopt an EMR system. The first column represents how much the payout will be each year. For example, if you are a current user, your payout for 2012 will be $12K. If you adopt an EMR system in 2013, your payout will be $15K in 2013, $12k in 2014, and $8K in 2015.

Payout	Current	2011	2012	2013	2014
2011	$18K	$18K	―	―	―
2012	$12K	$12K	$18K	―	―
2013	$8K	$8K	$12K	$15K	―
2014	$4K	$4K	$8K	$12K	$15K
2015	$2K	$2K	$4K	$8K	$12K
2016	―	―	$2K	$4K	$8K
Total	$44K	$44K	$44K	$39K	$35K

Medicaid - Physicians whose caseloads include at least 30% Medicaid patients are eligible to receive up to $64K over the course of 5 years, the exact payments have not yet been determined. Physicians cannot obtain incentives from both Medicaid and Medicare, but hospitals can.

Hospitals - Hospitals can receive a base payment of up to $2M initially. Additional incentives are available according to a formula based on discharges, year of adoption etc., with a cap at $6M. The exact payment schedule is not yet determined.

The remaining $2 Billion will be dispersed as grants and loans to promote advancements in healthcare information technology (HIT) and improve accessibility to HIT in underprivileged areas. The grants will be available to researchers, Community Health Centers, Rural Health Centers and Indian Health Centers.

What happens if I don’t adopt an EMR system?

After 2015, further financial incentives will not be available and penalties will kick in. There will be a 1% reduction in Medicare fees per year, up to 3% by 2017.

Where do I begin? How do I start thinking about this process to ensure that I have thought everything through?

It is obvious from the explanation of the incentive plan that the sooner you adopt an EMR system, the more incentive funds that will be available to you. Call EHR Doctors and we will be glad to assist with the iplementation of an EHR system for your practice.

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