According to a report by iHealthBeat, CMS announced on Tuesday that it has awarded over $9 million in federal matching funds to help four state Medicaid programs prepare to implement the electronic health record incentive program included in the 2009 federal economic stimulus package.
The stimulus package provides a 90% federal match to cover the cost of state planning efforts related to the EHR incentive program (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 5/11).
States also can use the funds to:
- Administer the incentive payments;
- Audit health care providers who receive payments; and
- Promote EHR interoperability (Baton Rouge Advocate, 5/10).
Since November 2009, CMS has awarded nearly $67.6 million in planning grants to 39 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
For the latest round of grants, CMS awarded:
- Louisiana $1.85 million;
- Maryland $1.37 million;
- Minnesota $1.04 million; and
- New Jersey $4.93 million (Modern Healthcare, 5/11).