EHR incentive payments top $5 billion

The rate of registrations by physicians and other so-called “eligible professionals” for the two federal incentive payment programs for electronic health-record systems dropped for the second straight month in April.

Combined registrations by eligible professionals for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs dropped in April to 12,228, down 12% compared with March numbers. Drilling down into the registration data, a 13% increase in Medicare registrations in April was more than offset by a 36% drop in Medicaid program registrations that month. Total registrations by “EPs” in the two programs created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 now stands at 234,570, 84% of whom are physicians. Other providers included as eligible professionals are dentists, optometrists, podiatrists, chiropractors, certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.