ARRA or HITECH Stimulus Plan - Do You Qualify?
“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed by President Obama
on February 17, 2009, includes billions in provisions for healthcare information
technology.”1 There are three factors that determine your eligibility:
Purpose
This legislation was passed for one specific purpose: to ensure utilization of
an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.
Obviously, it is part of the overall effort to overhaul our inefficient
healthcare system. It is specifically designed to share information amongst
healthcare providers including hospitals, individual practitioners and patients
themselves. By sharing information across the network of healthcare providers,
the following goals will be achieved:
• Decrease medical mistakes by better communication amongst health-care
providers. Unfortunately, I have had family experience with communication
errors. My uncle was admitted to the hospital for the diagnosis of Valley fever.
He died in a hospital of congestive heart failure because the hospital didn't
continue his regimen of heart medications even though he kept telling them what
he was taking. If an online record had existed from his family physician and
cardiologist, he could still be alive.
• Eliminate costly duplication of tests. If the patient was in an auto accident
and had cervical x-rays performed at the hospital, it may not be necessary to
take a second set of x-rays at your office if those x-rays were immediately
available. This is just one small example. In an emergency situation, many tests
are ordered to avoid future malpractice litigation rather than for strictly
diagnostic purposes.
• Gather data about treatment protocols and their outcomes. It is this portion
of the act that has raised concerns in the medical community. No one wants the
government to dictate treatment protocol. While everyone wants the best possible
outcome, doctors do not want the government to dictate the method. There have
been no regulations enacted yet as to the methods of gathering data.
Eligibility
According to the ARRA or HITECH (HITECH Act – Health Information Technology for
Economic and Clinical Health Act) the following practitioners are eligible to
receive stimulus incentives:
• a doctor of medicine or osteopathy
• a doctor of dental surgery or medicine
• a doctor of podiatric medicine
• a doctor of optometry
• a chiropractor
Physical therapist and occupational therapists are excluded. Anyone whose
primary practice is hospital-based such as anesthesiologists and emergency room
doctors are also excluded. A sports medicine or industrial injury clinic, even
though it might be staffed by MDs and DCs, would not qualify unless they treat
Medicare patients. Reimbursement is tied to the two government programs,
Medicare and Medicaid.
Read our statement and watch
our video: Statement
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