CMS to issue first Medicare EHR incentive payments this week

The CMS will send its first payments this week for providers that have met Stage 1 meaningful-use requirements under the Medicare portion of the electronic health-record system incentive program.

Eligible professionals participating in the Medicare EHR program can receive a payment of $18,000 to $19,800. Payments will be based on 75% of their allowed Medicare charges submitted no later than February 2012, according to an e-mailed notice from the CMS. For hospitals and critical-access facilities, several factors will determine the value of incentive payments issued. The base payment is $2 million.

A payment file development contractor working with the CMS, rather than Medicare administrative contractors, will make the payments, according to the release.

Eligible professionals, hospitals and critical-access facilities began attesting in April that they met had their meaningful-use requirements to be eligible for Medicare incentive payments.

The CMS sent its first payments under the Medicaid portion of the EHR incentive program, created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, in January. More than $83 million in Medicaid incentive payments has been issued, according to the CMS.