Registered providers for EHR incentives surpass 90K mark

Nearly 91,000 eligible professionals and hospitals have signed up to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record incentive programs so far in 2011, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's Health IT Policy Committee.

The Committee, reporting at ONC's September 14 meeting, noted that 13,099 providers registered for the programs in August alone, a 30 percent jump from July. The eligible professionals with the highest percentage of participation by physician specialty were those in internal medicine (22 percent) followed by family practice providers (20 percent).

The Committee also reported that as of August 31, more than $263 million in Medicare EHR incentive payments and over $389 million in Medicaid incentive payments have been paid to providers.

"On average all thresholds were greatly exceeded," the report noted. Additionally, 23 states have implemented Medicaid incentive programs as of August, according to the committee. It is expected that Medicaid payments will rise as more and larger states, such as California, launch their incentive payment programs, reports Government Health IT. The last day for eligible professionals to begin their 90-day reporting period for the 2011 calendar year for the Medicare EHR incentive program is October 3. The last day for eligible and critical access hospitals to register and attest to receive an incentive payment for fiscal year 2011 is November 30.