EHR Meaningful Use Incentives Top $14.5B

As of the end of April, the federal government has paid out $14.6 billion in EHR incentive payments, according to Robert Anthony, deputy director of the HIT Initiative Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of E-Health Standards and Services.

According to the latest data, a little more than 77 percent of hospitals have been paid under the program, and registration for eligible providers continues “pretty handily” at 75 percent, Anthony said. Three out of every four four eligible hospitals have made a financial commitment to an electronic health record, he said.

More than 292,000 Medicare and Medicaid eligible providers have received an EHR incentive payment as of the end of April. Not all EPs are new, some are returning from a previous year, Anthony said. “Depending on how the numbers come together, we believe we’ll surpass 300,000 unique providers paid under the program, by the end of May.”