Incentive Programs for EHR Adoption Growing

OPEN MINDS On-Line News Strategic Health Care News Since 2006, about 90 public and private programs have launched to subsidize physician adoption of health information technology. Hospital organization started 50 programs after the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services clarified federal “safe harbor” regulations in 2006. The rules allow hospitals to subsidize up to 85% of certain costs for physicians to acquire, implement, and maintain electronic health records (EHR) certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT®). Forty incentive programs are offered by government agencies, insurance plans, employer coalitions, and public-private partnerships. Twenty of the . . .