Stimulus Money Available to Implement Electronic Medical Records

With federal stimulus money available to defray the cost of going high tech, physicians and hospitals across the area are looking to get rid of paper in favor of electronic medical records.


And with cuts coming to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements in 2015 for those that don’t make the switch, many doctors and hospitals are preparing to go electronic now.

“There’s a revolution coming,” said Peter A. Levine, executive director of the Genesee County Medical Society. “There are a lot of physicians’ offices looking at this right now, but have not made decisions yet. The process of selecting an electronic medical records system is pretty complicated.”

An estimated 44 percent of office-based physicians used at least some electronic medical or health records in 2009, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. But only about 6.3 percent of those doctors are using a fully functional electronic system, according to the center.

The stimulus funding provides about $19 billion for Medicare and Medicaid health information technology incentives over a five-year period. Doctors and hospitals that adopt use of electronic medical records and show a “meaningful use” of the technology can receive incentives of about $44,000 per physician.

Flint Journal 4-11-10