Billions in EHR Incentive Funds Up for Grabs as Doctors Go Digital Across the Country

California, New York and Florida stand to earn the greatest incentives through physician health IT adoption. Practice Fusion teams with small medical practices across the country as they switch from paper medical charts to Electronic Health Records.

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Practice Fusion

Jul 20, 2010, 08:16 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week's announcement of final guidelines for medical providers and EHR vendors has officially kicked off the national health IT transition. As part of the 2009 economic stimulus plan (ARRA), billions have been earmarked to incentivize the Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology in the US. Eligible medical providers can each qualify for $44,000+ in stimulus incentives starting in 2011, incentives that will drive health IT adoption and could bring as much as $4 billion to individual states.

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Practice Fusion has researched the total EHR incentives at stake in each state based on the number of eligible medical providers. These totals reflect the incentives that could be paid directly to physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants as a boost to local economies. The fastest growing EHR community in the country, Practice Fusion works daily with medical practices making the switch from paper charts to the company's free, web-based EHR system. Company experts are available to discuss the relevance of these figures compared to state demographic and health quality data.

State EHR Incentive Potential

California, $4.60 billion
New York, $3.52 billion
Florida, $2.39 billion
Texas, $2.37 billion
Pennsylvania, $1.84 billion
Illinois, $1.52 billion
Ohio, $1.44 billion
Massachusetts, $1.36 billion
New Jersey, $1.27 billion
Michigan, $1.25 billion
Virginia, $1.05 billion
North Carolina, $1.03 billion
Georgia, $1.01 billion
Maryland, $1.00 billion
Washington, $871 million
Tennessee, $804 million
Missouri, $755 million
Arizona, $718 million
Wisconsin, $713 million
Indiana, $686 million
Minnesota, $683 million
Connecticut, $618 million
Colorado, $617 million
South Carolina, $567 million
Oregon, $523 million
Louisiana, $506 million
Kentucky, $483 million
Alabama, $475 million
Oklahoma, $334 million
Kansas, $322 million
Mississippi, $316 million
Iowa, $313 million
Arkansas, $306 million
Utah, $290 million
District of Columbia, $266 million
Nevada, $235 million
New Mexico, $227 million
West Virginia, $215 million
Maine, $209 million
Nebraska, $198 million
Hawaii, $192 million
Rhode Island, $180 million
Idaho, $140 million
Delaware, $124 million
Montana, $115 million
Vermont, $108 million
Alaska, $100 million
South Dakota, $89 million
North Dakota, $78 million
New Hampshire, $77 million
Wyoming, $62 million

"The EHR incentive plan was created, not to just dramatically improve the safety and quality of healthcare, but also to provide an economic stimulus to the country," said Practice Fusion CEO, Ryan Howard. "By providing incentives to physicians, ARRA has already created a booming health IT sector with opportunities for health IT professionals, hardware manufacturers, technology companies, medical providers and local healthcare organizations. As the EHR transition timeline approaches and incentives begin to be paid in 2011, we will see the real impact of Washington's EHR campaign at the local level."

The new EHR stimulus criteria include 15 mandatory tasks and 10 "a la carte" menu items, from which the provider needs to accomplish five. Broadly, medical providers will need to begin electronically recording patient health data, providing patients with access to their health information, e-prescribing, using interaction warning and clinical decision support tools, linking together different parts of the healthcare systems and reporting quality measures for public health monitoring using a certified EHR system.

Practice Fusion can connect reporters to local medical professionals who have completed or are in the process of making the EHR transition. Medical providers are available to share response to the new criteria, thoughts about stimulus incentives and plans for using the $44,000 bonus. Visit www.practicefusion.com or EHRbloggers.com for more analysis on Meaningful Use.

About Practice Fusion - Practice Fusion provides a free, web-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) system to physicians. With charting, scheduling, e-prescribing, billing, lab integrations, unlimited support and a Personal Health Record for patients, Practice Fusion's EHR addresses the complex needs of today's healthcare providers and disrupts the health IT status quo. Practice Fusion is the fastest growing EHR community in country with more than 43,000 users in 50 states. The company is backed by Salesforce.com and Morgenthaler Ventures. For more information on Practice Fusion, please visit practicefusion.com.

About ARRA - On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law a plan for economic recovery designed to pull the United States out of a deep recession. Encompassing $789 billion in funding for stimulus programs, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) included $19 billion under the HITECH Act to promote the adoption of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) technology in healthcare. Individual doctors and eligible medical providers can receive $44,000 or more for "Meaningful Use" of an EHR system starting in 2011.