Percentage of eligible hospitals getting EHR incentive payments hits 80.8%

Compared with a month ago, 27 more hospitals and 6,296 additional physicians and other eligible professionals have received payments under the federal incentive payment program for electronic health records, according to monthly figures for July from the CMS.

The new recruits bring the number of hospitals having received payments under the program to 4,051, or 80.8% of the 5,011 hospitals eligible for payments. They've received a total of nearly $9.45 billion in federal payments so far to either meet meaningful-use criteria under the Medicare version of the program, or to adopt, implement or upgrade to a certified EHR under the Medicaid incentive payment program.

For physicians, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors eligible for Medicaid EHR incentive payments, 199,923 have received them; of the physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives eligible under the Medicaid program, 99,479 have been paid.

Another 12,647 physicians in Medicare Advantage programs have also been paid.

Combined, these 312,074 physicians and eligible professionals—59.2% of the estimated 527,200 who are eligible to participate—have split $ 6.4 billion.

All told, 316,125 providers have shared in a total of $15.88 billion spent thus far since January 2011 when payments began under the programs created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Another 33 hospitals and 4,309 physicians and eligible professionals registered to participate in the program last month, pushing total registrations to 4,510 for hospitals and 405,329 for physicians and other eligible professionals. Four U.S. territories and 49 states are registering providers under the territory- and state-run Medicaid program. Only Hawaii has yet to launch its Medicaid EHR incentive payment program.

Follow Joseph Conn on Twitter: @MHJConn