Finally a Meaningful Federal Stimulus Bonus Payment Guarantee Program and What you need to know about the HITECH Act of 2009. Here are some advantages:

Over $60 billion in healthcare funding is included in the HITECH provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for electronic health records.

60.3 Billion Stimulus Break Down:

1. $46.8B for Medicare & Medicaid Incentives to doctors & Hospitals for "Meaningful Use" of certified HIT
2. $2B for HIT infrastructure, especially Health Information Exchange (HIE)
3. $4.7B for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
4. $2.5B for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program
5. $1.1B for Comparitive effectiveness grants from AHRQ, HIH, and HHS
6. $1.5B for the Community Health Centers through the Health Resources and Services Administration
7. $500M for Loan Forgiveness and Workforce Training
8. $500M for Department of Labor for Workforce Training
9. $500M for HRSA Workforce Training
10. $85M for the Indian Health Service
11. $50M for the Veterans Benefits Administration
12. $25M for Children's Health Insurance Program Reinvestment Act (CHIPRA)

Meaningful Use of certified EHR Technology:

To take advantage of these incentives you must be able to demonstrate "Meaningful Use" of Healthcare IT. The EHR must be certified, and you need to use the EHR for:

1. ePrescribing
2. Sharing clinical data with other certified EHR systems (interopraability)
3. Reporting on specified clinical quality measures

Medicare Incentive

1. Incentives will start in 2011
2. Available to all non-hosptial physicians who see Medicare patients
3. Eligible physicians can receive up to $44K over a five-year period
4. Minimum for Medicare participation: Provider must bill 125% of the total incentive received over the five-year period of incentive distribution.
5. Must prove "meaningful use" of an EHR.
6. Physicians who have not adopted an EHR by January 1, 2015 will be penalized by reduced Medicare payments.
7. CMS has extended full Medicare ePrescribing one full year until the end of 2011

Medicaid Incentive

1. Available only to non-hospital based clinicians, including dentists, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants practicing in rural health clinics or FQHCs
2. Medicaid incentives range up to $63.5K over a five-year period.
3. Minimum for Medicaid participation: 30% of a clinician's patients must use Medicaid, with the exception of pediatricians, who only need to have 20% of their patients using Medicaid.
4. Startup incentive up to $21,000 in state loan funds will be available in year one toward the purchase of a certified EHR.
5. After receiving startup funds, providers who can prove "meaningful use" can receive up to $8,500 annually for an additional five years.
6. No penalties have been defined by Medicaid for lack of adoption.

Additional Information on EHR Stimulus:

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), which, among other things, created financial incentives for physicians and other providers to adopt and utilize electronic health records (EHR) and penalties for those physicians who do not.

To stay informed, you can always go to the HHS.GOV recovery site for the latest news and updates.