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HHS offers financial incentives to encourage EHR use

EHR Connection, November 12, 2007

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced October 30 that a five-year demonstration project will use financial incentives to encourage small to medium-sized physician practices to use EHRs.

"By linking higher payment to use of EHRs to meet quality measures, we will encourage adoption of health information technology at the community level, where 60% of patients receive care," Leavitt said in a press release. "We also anticipate that EHRs will produce significant savings for Medicare over time by improving quality of care. This is another step in our ongoing effort to become a smart purchaser of healthcare-paying for better, rather than simply paying for more."

CMS will administer the demonstration project, which will be open to participation by as many as 1,200 physicians beginning next spring, according to the HHS press release. The program will provide financial incentives to physician groups that meet certain clinical quality measures using certified EHRs. Scores on a standardized survey that assesses EHR functions that support a physician group's delivery of care will determine annual bonuses.

The project will require participating practices to use a certified EHR system to perform functions that can positively affect patient care, such as ordering prescriptions and clinical documentation, according to the press release. The system must be in place by the end of the second year and will require approval by a certification body officially recognized by HHS.

Click here to read the HHS press release.

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