President Obama has initiated a new era for healthcare technology.  Through the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the President is committing approximately $19 billion to healthcare IT with the goal of facilitating the adoption of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for every American by 2014.  While these goals are daunting (and questionably unattainable), the legislation and funding is sure to have an accelerating impact on the purchase and implementation of EHR systems across the nation.

By offering financial incentives and imposing financial penalties, the ARRA will compel healthcare providers to urgently rethink their information technology strategy.  Early adopters of electronic health records that meet the standards set forth by ‘meaningful use’ will receive more in reimbursement dollars over time, beginning 2011 and lasting through 2016.  Later adopters, those that delay implementation until after 2014, face Medicare reimbursement penalties up to -3%.

With approximately $19 billion in grants and incentive payments available to providers who demonstrate meaningful use, ARRA says loud and clear that it pays to be an early EHR adopter.

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Tags: electronic health records

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Renita Shah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.