ARRA- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

On February 17, 2009 President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, H.R.1, providing us with a $19.2 billion opportunity to promote EHR adoption. Eligible professionals, acute care hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid may be able to receive funds for the .meaningful use of a certified EHR. Grants and Loans will be available January 1, 2010. Eligible hospitals may receive incentives starting in fiscal year 2011(October 2010). Eligible professionals may receive incentives starting in calendar year 2011(January 2011). Incentive payment schedules decline over time (2011-2015). After 2015, reductions in Medicare reimbursement will begin.

Speak to the experienced consultants at Inteck about steps you should be taking to lead your organization down the path toward Medicare or Medicaid payments that are a part of HITECH. Inteck can help you select and implement an EHR, improve physician usage of existing systems and assess current security and privacy policies, procedures and technologies.

EHR Meaningful Use Document Shortcuts

Medicaid for Providers incl.
Critical Access Hospitals

Medicare for
Critical Access Hospitals

Medicare Incentives for
Physicians

Grant Opportunities

ARRA related links:

 “Meaningful Use: A Definition”
Recommendations from the Meaningful Use Workgroup to the Health IT Policy Committee

Meaningful Use Matrix

http://www.recovery.gov
This key resource for all things related to the ARRA including how, when and where the money is spent

www.grants.gov
This site allows you to search all Recovery Act available funding

http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Office of Recovery Act Coordination
On this site you can track the progress of HHS activities funded through the ARRA

http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Health Information Technology
This is where the government will list more specifics related to the initial set of HIT standards, implementation specifics and certification criteria. Additionally, you can also find information on the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) here as well.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
this is where the Secretary will post a list of names of eligible hospitals that become "meaningful users"

http://www.nahit.org/index.asp
The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT)
NAHIT identifies and develops strategies and best practices around the use of EHRs and other technology.  It has been said they hope to evolve into the government's HIT Standards Committee however that is still to be determined.

http://www.hitsp.org/
Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel
HITSP is a cooperative partnership between the public and private sectors. The Panel was formed for the purpose of harmonizing and integrating standards that will meet clinical and business needs for sharing information among organizations and systems.  It has been said they hope to serve the goverment's HIT Standards Committee however that is also still to be determined.

http://www.cbo.gov/publications/collections/collections.cfm?collect=12
Congressional Budget Office
The CBO provides objective, nonpartisan, and timely analyses to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on the wide array of programs covered by the federal budget including the ARRA.  You can view the report "Estimated Macroeconomic Impacts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" which estimates more than expected spending in healthcare IT.

Proposed Rule EHR Incentive Program: Part II (8MB) and Part III

Initial Set of Standards Implementation Specs and
Certification Criteria for EHR Technology