Stimulus and EMR.

We found this article to be right on the money on the adoption of EMR. More here.

Federal stimulus money and the promise of incentive payments are pushing health care providers toward digital information. Just as moving from ledgers to computers changed banking, going to electronic medical records is expected to change health care, proponents say. Beginning next year, health care providers can recoup some of their costs from incentives that were part of the stimulus package.

Those making "meaningful use" of electronic records are eligible for as much as $18,000 in fiscal 2011, and lesser amounts in the four years following, to an estimated total of $40,000 or more. Hospitals can get more than $2 million a year for four years.  Proponents say the benefits are as enticing as the funds. Record-keeping will become more efficient. Tests and X-rays won't need to be repeated, and staff time won't have to be spent pulling or filing paper charts. Information will be mined in ways that can improve health care, by showing which treatments are most effective, for example. And mistakes can be reduced, such as those that can come from misinterpreted handwriting.

SunHerald.com March 2010