PBOmd HITECH Act Incentives - Up to $44K Medicare or $63K Medicaid for EHR

Criteria To Qualify For EHR Physician Incentive Payments

PBO is a leading web based electronic health record that can integrate with any HIPPA complaint practice management system.
Currently, PBO is integrated with more than (50) industry leading practice management systems, lab providers and related medical information systems in the US.

PBO is committed to receiving 2011 certification as soon as the final criteria for physician eligibility is defined by the federal government, expected to be finalized in summer 2010.

ARRA Economic Stimulus Facts

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The law includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or the "HITECH Act," which established programs under Medicare and Medicaid to provide incentive payments for the "meaningful use" of certified electronic health records (EHR) technology.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has a role in three areas of the HITECH Act:

Implementation of the EHR incentive programs, including defining meaningful use of certified EHR technology;
Establishment of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology.
Privacy and Security protections under the HITECH Act.

MEANINGFUL USE of certified EHR technology:

To take advantage of these incentives you must be able to demonstrate �Meaningful Use� of Healthcare IT, which is still being finalized by the federal government.

The EHR must be certified, and you need to use the EHR for:

ePrescribing
Sharing clinical data with other certified EHR systems (interoperability)
Reporting on specified clinical quality measures

Meaningful Use criteria are being refined by the federal government on a monthly basis until the department of Health and Human services finalizes the rule. For the most recent updates, please CLICK here cms.hhs.gov

MEDICARE INCENTIVES:

Incentives will start in 2011 but you will still be eligible for the entire reimbursement if you apply by June 2012 (see schedule below)
Available to all non-hospital physicians who see Medicare patients
Eligible physicians can receive up to $44K over a five-year period
Minimum for Medicare participation: Providers must bill 125% of the total incentive received over the five-year period of incentive distribution
Must prove "meaningful use" of an EHR
Physicians who have not adopted an EHR by January 1, 2015 will be penalized by reduced Medicare payments

Medicare Incentives Schedule
Year	Year You First File 2011	Year You First File 2012	Year You First File 2013	Year You First File 2014	Year You First File 2015
2011	$18,000	$0	$0	$0	$0
2012	$12,000	$18,000	$0	$0	$0
2013	$8,000	$12,000	$15,000	$0	$0
2014	$4,000	$8,000	$12,000	$12,000	$0
2015	$2,000	$4,000	$8,000	$8,000	$0
2016	$0	$2,000	$4,000	$4,000	$0
*Total*	$44,000	$44,000	$39,000	$24,000	$0

MEDICAID INCENTIVES:

Available only to non-hospital based clinicians, including dentists, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants practicing in rural health clinics or FQHCs
Medicaid incentives range up to $63.5K over a five-year period
Minimum for Medicaid participation: 30% of a clinician's patients must use Medicaid, with the exception of pediatricians, who only need to have 20% of their patients using Medicaid
Startup incentive up to $21,000 in state loan funds will be available in year one toward the purchase a certified EHR
After receiving startup funds, providers who can prove "meaningful use" can receive up to $8,500 annually for an additional five years
No penalties have been defined by Medicaid for lack of adoption

Medicaid Incentives Schedule
Year	Year You First File 2011	Year You First File 2012	Year You First File 2013	Year You First File 2014	Year You First File 2015
2011	$21,000	$0	$0	$0	$0
2012	$8,500	$21,000	$0	$0	$0
2013	$8,500	$8,500	$21,000	$0	$0
2014	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500	$21,000	$0
2015	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500	$21,000
2016	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500
2017	$0	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500
2018	$0	$0	$8,500	$8,500	$8,500
2019	$0	$0	$0	$8,500	$8,500
2020	$0	$0	$0	$0	$8,500
*Total*	$63,500	$63,500	$63,500	$63,500	$63,500

For more information, please CLICK here: cms hhs Recovery