Funding Option for Implementing EMR Solution

The herculean task of assuring compliance with the proposed federal guidelines for the use of electronic medical records (EMR) comes with a hefty price tag. The expenses to hospitals and private physicians include not only the price of the software and technical support, but also the contracted manpower to enter all current data into the electronic system.

In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was created to fund and support a paperless national health information network through the adoption of EMR solution. The stimulus is based either on Medicare OR Medicaid but not both. The incentive per practice provider began in 2011 and reduces payments through 2016. After this date a penalty of 2% less reimbursement from CMS occurs for physicians not using EMR solution.