Economic Stimulus Package - HITECH Act - SequelMed EHR Stimulus Ready

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SequelMed: EHR Stimulus Ready

On Feb 17^th President Obama signed the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law that qualifies hospitals and physicians for $17 billion worth of incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid over a five-year period. Under the ARRA, specifically the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, $40-$60K may be available for each physician proving “meaningful use” of an EHR.

“It's an investment that will take the long overdue step of computerizing America's medical records to reduce the duplication and waste that costs billions of health care dollars and medical errors that cost thousands of lives each year.”

- President Obama’s Remarks at Stimulus Bill Signing Tue Feb 17^th 2009 -

Watch Stimulus Bill Signing Video (from The Washington Post):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/02/17/VI2009021702301.html?sid=ST2009021702300

Read Stimulus Bill Signing (from The Washington Post):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/17/AR2009021700221.html?hpid=topnews

Read the full ARRA legislation (from The White House):

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ARRA_public_review/

Learn how the EHR Stimulus Program can benefit you:

The EHR Clock is ticking. And SequelMed is ready to help you take advantage of the EHR Stimulus Package. Let us prepare you get your stimulus incentives and increase your revenue. Contact us at 800.965.2728 or email us at info@sequelsys.com.

EHR Incentive Summary

Incentive Payments for “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records

The HITECH act provides financial incentives to physicians, hospitals and certain other providers through either the Medicare or Medicaid programs for the “meaningful use” of Electronic Health Records. While the exact definition of “meaningful use” is yet to be determined by the HHS (Health and Human Services) Secretary, the legislation outlines three requirements:

E-Prescription: The EHR must include e-prescribing.

Electronic Exchange of Health Information: The EHR must provide electronic exchange of health information.

Report Clinical Quality Measures: The EHR must allow submission of clinical quality measures.

Hospital Incentives - Medicare

2011: 100% of the amount the incentive payment the hospital is eligible for

2012: 75% of the amount the hospital would otherwise be eligible for

2013: 50% of the amount the hospital would otherwise be eligible for

2014: 25% of the amount the hospital would otherwise be eligible for

2015: No incentive payments.

Physician Incentives – Medicaid

The stimulus allows up to $64,000 over five years for physicians who see more than 30% of patients (20% for pediatricians) paying with Medicaid. For physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants working in either Rural Health Clinics or Federally Qualified Health Centers, the threshold is also 30%; however, they can include S-CHIP enrollees, patients for whom no payment is made to the clinic for their care or patients to whom a sliding fee scale is applied. The calculation of incentives will be done using specific formulas.