Meaningful Use Payments To Providers Near $17 Billion

During the monthly meeting of the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provided its latest update for the EHR Incentive Programs whose payouts now number close to $17 billion. To date, eligible professionals have received $3.98 and $2.44 billion through Medicare and Medicaid, respectively, and eligible hospitals have received $10.25 billion in EHR incentive payments.

Rob Anthony, the Deputy Director of the Office of eHealth Standards and Services (OESS), revealed the federal agency’s expectations for the coming months as the next phase of the program, Stage 2 Meaningful Use, kicks off for EPs in 2014.

“The important figure that we like to focus on is the number of eligible professionals that have converted to meaningful use,” Anthony said. “We’re watching that figure closely. Of course, toward the end of the year I think we’ve talked in the last couple of months that we’re in the sort of slow down period and December, January, February, March is when we’ll really see the hockey stick, the end of that, jump off.”