HITECH Act and stimulus funds for meaningful use of EHR:
(Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act)

On February 17, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law by the federal government. Included in this law is $19.2 Billion which is intended to be used to increase the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) by physicians and hospitals; this portion of the bill is called, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act. The government firmly believes in the benefits of using electronic health records and is ready to invest federal resources to proliferate its use.

More information on this can be found on the web in multiple locations; some of the best information is available at http://hitechanswers.net/about

Basic information on incentives:

• Incentives for Physicians based on meaningful use of Electronic Health Records
• Two incentive programs for Physicians with Medicare and Medicaid
• Physicians get to chose the program based on size of practice
• Incentives of $64,000 or $44,000 over 5 years
  

Incentive Schedules given below:

$ Incentives paid per year

Year of Registration	Year 2011	Year 2012	Year 2013	Year 2014	Year 2015	Year 2016	Total
Year 2011	18,000$	12,000$	8,000$	4,000$	2,000$	-$	44,000$
Year 2012	-$	18,000$	12,000$	8,000$	4,000$	2,000$	44,000$
Year 2013	-$	-$	15,000$	12,000$	8,000$	4,000$	39,000$
Year 2014	-$	-$	-$	15,000$	12,000$	8,000$	35,000$
Year 2015 or later	-$	-$	-$	-$	-$	-$	-$

HITECH Act stands for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.  More good information on this and other related items can be found at http://hitechanswers.net/.