Update on the CMS Medicaid EHR Incentive Program

These are exciting and challenging times for the state Medicaid programs.

One of the most thrilling events has been the introduction of a program that will provide incentive payments to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) as they adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology.  States may voluntarily offer the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program to their Medicaid eligible professionals and eligible hospitals and many have started to do so.

Since Jan. 3, states have been registering and receiving certification to qualify for EHR incentive payments under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.

• The states that have registered include Alaska, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
• Of those eleven states, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Carolina and South Carolina have already started to disburse payments under the program.

On Feb. 21, during HIMSS11 in Orlando Fla., I attended an education session on “The Status of the State Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.”  Jessica Kahn moderated the session; she is a Technical Director for Health IT, at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Participating on the panel were:

• John Calabro, Health Information Technology Coordinator for Oklahoma, and
• Sandeep Kapoor, Medicaid Health IT Lead from the Department for Medicaid Services in the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Kahn shared with the audience that CMS regarded the launch of these states’ EHR incentive programs, with simultaneous registration and payment in early January, as a tremendous success. During their presentations, both Calabro and Kapoor agreed with her assessment.

As a follow-up to the education session at HIMSS11, I contacted CMS for updated information on the progress of payments in the last six weeks. I found out that as of today (April 11):

• Alabama, California and Missouri have also launched their programs;
• States disbursing payments in March 2011 include Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, North Carolina and South Carolina.
• To date, state Medicaid agencies have issued a total of $26,466,204.99 to 480 providers.

I have included some links from CMS that readers of this blog might find useful, if they would like to learn more about this very successful program.

A link to join the CMS EHR Incentive Programs listserv for timely, authoritative information about the EHR Incentive Programs, including registration and attestation updates, and details about the payment process

A link to the Oklahoma video about the Gastorf Clinic success story. The video showcases Drs. Melissa and Jeffrey Gastorf who were among the first providers to receive their EHR incentive payments in the country.

A link to the EP registration videos. A systematic guide for EPs and hospitals to register for the programs. The videos help those registering for the EHR Incentive Programs view the registration process before logging on to the system themselves. The video is on the CMS website as well as the CMS You Tube Channel, EP video reference.

I spoke with Sandeep Kapoor recently to ask how the program was going in Kentucky and he replied, “The Kentucky Medicaid EHR incentive program is going really well and there is genuine enthusiasm among the provider community to adopt EHRs. We have exceeded our initial targets for the first quarter of 2011. The work being done by the state HIE, the regional extension centers and the Medicaid agency has resulted in lot of synergy across various ehealth initiatives here in the Commonwealth, and it is a very exciting time for the advancement of technology in the healthcare industry, which will undoubtedly lead to better healthcare outcomes.”

Kapoor also shared with me Kentucky will have already dispensed, by the last week in March, about $20 million in payments to eligible providers.

Please contact me at tkeefe@himss.org and share your story of how you think this program is working in your state. You can also share your thoughts here on the HIMSS Blog.