CMS: Three in four eligible hospitals have received EHR payments

As 2012 winds down, three in four eligible hospitals and nearly one-third of physicians and other eligible professionals have been paid under federal programs to incentivize the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records systems, according to the latest data from the CMS (PDF).

According to the CMS' November report, $9.3 billion has been doled out since the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payment programs began making payments in 2011, with $6.1 billion going to 3,393 hospitals, $3.1 billion going to 162,051 physicians and other eligible professionals, mostly working in ambulatory care; and the remaining $189 million sent to 11,117 EPs in a few Medicare Advantage programs.

There are currently 4,193 hospitals and 335,879 physicians and other professionals actively registered for the programs.

An earlier version of this story stated that more than two-thirds of eligible hospitals have received EHR incentive program payments. That figure has been updated to three-fourths.