All Entries Tagged With: "Healthcare IT"

Is $19 Billion on Healthcare IT Well-Spent?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed today contains one of the largest government injections into healthcare since LBJ decided Medicare and Medicaid would be a good idea. Healthcare itself gets $147 billion, the largest chunk put into Medicaid. But $19 billion gets put into support for healthcare IT, including $2 million in direct grants and and other $17 billion in tax credits to providers starting in 2011.

Our colleagues at Waller Lansden formed an interesting article looking at some of the specifics of who gets the money. Hospitals that are “meaningful EHR users” will be “paid an amount based on an equation that takes into account a base amount of $2,000,000 plus an additional amount based on the number of discharges for such hospital, on a graduated basis.” Physicians who are meaningful EHR users “will be paid amounts not to exceed $15,000 for a physician for the first payment year.” (I suspect that come 2011, a physician EMR will cost $14,999.) [more]