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About the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act
ARRA, aka “the Stimulus Bill,” was signed into law on February 17, 2009. The purpose of this $787 billion legislation is to stimulate the economy, and provide funds for education, healthcare, and other activities to promote economic growth. The portion of the bill that applies to the use of EHRs is called Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act.
The HITECH Act includes $17.2 billion in incentives for “eligible subsection (d) hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAH)” and “eligible professionals” to receive payments for moving forward with qualified electronic medical records.
The term “qualified electronic health record” means an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that includes:
- Patient demographic and clinical health information, such as medical history and problems lists
- Clinical decision support
- Physician order entry
- Electronic health information exchange
Key Provisions
ARRA contains specific provisions geared to IT adoption by providing money to states, physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers to encourage the adoption and use of HIT systems and promote health information exchange. Seventeen billion dollars of these funds are to be disbursed as temporary payment incentives through Medicare and Medicaid.
To be eligible for these temporary Medicare and Medicaid payment incentives, hospitals and eligible professionals must have in place a “certified EHR system” and be a “meaningful user” of such a system. The criteria for each definition have not yet been completely defined.
The incentive potential for hospitals and providers that reach “meaningful use of EHR” and qualify for incentives starting in 2011 is:
- Per Hospital: $5 - $10 million, dispersed over a maximum of four payments, depending on when they qualify for first payment and specific annual metrics such as discharges, charity care and inpatient days.
- Per Eligible Professional: Up to $44,000 under Medicare or $64,000 under Medicaid total per individual eligible provider, with up to five payments made to individuals based on when they qualify for the first payment and the physician’s Medicare patient volume.
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