Hospital Incentives Under Economic Stimulus Package
Prepared by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), here are some of the estimates of what could be paid in Medicare incentive payments from 2011 to 2014 for hospitals meeting the yet-to-be-determined “meaningful use” standards of electronic health records under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
- 75-bed hospital, up to $3.5 million
- 250-bed hospital, up to $5.7 million
- 750-bed hospital, up to $11.2 million
Impact of Stimulus Bill on Physical Therapy
“We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” These are the words of President Obama in his speech to the U.S. Congress last night where he called for comprehensive healthcare reform this year. The President talked about the cost of healthcare on families and businesses, indicating that reform work would begin as early as next week.
What kind of impact does Obama’s recently-passed Stimulus Bill have on physical therapists? PTProductsonline.com published this article titled “Stimulus Bill Includes Many Provisions for PTs.”
Obama signs ARRA Today
President Barack Obama, today, signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, H.R. 1. The legislation provides $19.2 billion for health IT to help stimulate the economy, increase investment in health IT, build a strong IT infrastructure for healthcare, and expand job growth.
As reported by HIMSS, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is intended to achieve widespread adoption of health IT and enable electronic exchange of health information. The Act offers incentives through Medicare and Medicaid to reward providers for demonstrating the “meaningful use” of certified EHR technologies. The Medicare incentives for eligible professionals become available beginning 2011 and for eligible hospitals FY11 and are available only to those providers that demonstrate use of certified EHR technology as defined by the Act. Beginning in 2015 (eligible professionals) and FY15 (eligible hospitals) the incentives end, and eligible professionals and hospitals who are not “meaningful users” of EHR technologies will begin to see a reduction in their applicable Medicare percentage increase.
$19 Billion to Health Care Information Technology from Stimulus Bill
The final stimulus bill will allocate $19 billion to accelerate the adoption of health care information technology by medical groups and hospitals.
The funds are aimed at saving billions in medical errors and at improving quality. It is said that thousands of jobs will also be created in the high-tech sector to promote and impelement the use of technology in health care.