IT Incentives for Doctors, Hospitals Vary Under Federal Stimulus Package

Health information technology is expected to experience a huge boost with the new economic stimulus package. The health IT provisions of the stimulus bill aim to accelerate the adoption of electronic health record technologies and facilitate nationwide health information exchanges to improve the quality and coordination of care between health care providers, thereby reducing medical errors and duplicative care. Most of the package's health IT funding -- approximately $17 billion over five years -- will be made available across the next 10 years as Medicare and Medicaid payment incentives to health care providers who adopt certified health IT systems. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the proposed incentive structure is expected to boost health IT adoption rates to about 70% for hospitals and to about 90% for physicians within the next decade -- a significant improvement over the projected adoption rates of 45% and 65% for hospitals and physicians, respectively, by 2019, in the absence of any incentives.