Dear NCUIH Members:
Please find below two communications that were received today from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The first item relates to the CMS Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentives Program. A web site has been created to provide a resource for you to learn about EHR incentives and how to qualify.
The second item concerns the federal matching funds made available to states by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to incentivize the adoption of meaningful use-certified EHR technology. Final regulations have been promulgated by CMS, and the accompanying letter (click here to view) will provide further guidance on these utilizing these matching funds.
I hope you find this information helpful. Please feel free to contact 202-544-0344 or email jstiener@ncuih.org with any questions.
CMS’s EHR Incentive Program Resource
There’s a lot of talk right now about electronic health records, and how health care professionals and hospitals are going to pay for them.
So you probably have a lot of questions about them as well: Am I eligible to receive incentive payments under the Medicare & Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs? When does the program begin? How much are the incentive payments? What do I need to participate?
It’s important that you have a reliable resource to turn to for accurate information. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the federal agency establishing these incentive programs. The CMS website is the official federal source for facts about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. The site contains up-to-date resources that will give you the insight you need to make educated decisions.
Avoid reading false or misleading information. Get the facts from the federal source – the CMS Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs website. Visit http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms today.
State Medicaid Director (SMD) Letter on Health Information Technology (HIT)
CMCS is pleased to announce the release of a letter to State Medicaid directors regarding implementation of section 4201 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act), and our recently published final regulations regarding the use of health information technology (HIT) in the Medicaid program. The Recovery Act provides 100 percent Federal financial participation (FFP) to States for incentive payments to eligible Medicaid providers to adopt, implement, upgrade, and meaningfully use certified EHR technology, and 90 percent FFP for State administrative expenses related to the program. CMS has now promulgated final regulations that also govern State administrative expenses related to operation of these programs. The letter and the accompanying enclosures provide more detailed guidance from CMS on the expectations relating to the activities and potential uses of the 90/10 matching funds.
We hope you will find this information helpful. We look forward to collaborating with State Medicaid agencies and learning from these experiences as we provide technical assistance, policy guidance, and Federal resources to ensure successful development and implementation of Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
Questions regarding this guidance may be directed to Mr. Rick Friedman, Director, Division of State Systems, at 410-786-4451, or Richard.Friedman@cms.hhs.gov.
