The part of the stimulus bill that pertains directly to physicians and practices is the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act. The Act contains multiple economic incentives to accelerate the adoption of Electronic Health Records by medical providers nationwide, including $20 billion via Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments to aid eligible medical providers in adopting electronic health records.
If you become a meaningful user of an approved EHR by 2011, you can receive:
- up to $44,000 from Medicare, or
- up to $64,000 from Medicaid