Feds pass halfway mark on EHR payments

The feds are now over the hump, having doled out more than half of the estimated total expenditures for electronic health-record incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to the latest CMS data.

Through January 2013, the EHR incentive payment programs through Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare Advantage have paid out $11.78 billion, the CMS reports.

The government estimates total payouts under the program will reach $22.5 billion. Payments began in 2011.

Nearly $7.9 billion of EHR incentive money thus far has gone to hospitals. Another $3.7 billion has gone to physicians and “other professionals,” while $189 million has been paid to Medicare Advantage programs.

So far, 3,667 hospitals have received EHR incentive payments under either Medicare, Medicaid or both.

Unlike hospitals, physicians and other “EPs” can receive payments only from one program. There are 122,632 physicians and other eligible professionals who have been paid under Medicare, 73,233 under Medicaid, and 11,117 under Medicare Advantage, the CMS report shows.