Many of our customers are searching for answers about the stimulus dollars within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, but many of those answers are still yet to be defined by Health and Human Services (HHS). On Tuesday, April 28th, the government took one step forward by swearing in Kathleen Sebelius as the Secretary of HHS. As answers come forth in the near future, MEDITECH will share them through our Interoperability and EHR Initiatives Portal.

For now, here is a question we've been hearing from our customers, and would like to shed some light on the subject.

Q: If a hospital implements and demonstrates meaningful use of an electronic health record by October 2010 (the start of FY2011 per the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), when do they start receiving incentive payments? For example, if Hospital A demonstrates meaningful use in October 2010 and Hospital B demonstrates it six months later, does Hospital A get six months more of incentive payments or would their payments be the same?

A: The ARRA does not define a precise payment timing for Medicare or Medicaid incentives. This will be determined during the regulation process now underway. The ARRA has a provision that HHS is to release its plan to Congress 90 days after enactment, and it is anticipated that more details about the regulations will be announced around this date. ARRA was enacted on February 17th, so 90 days later is May 18th.

For the Medicare incentives, the ARRA states the payment may be in the form of periodic payments or may be in the form of a lump sum. The specific language from the legal text follows:

(i) FORM OF PAYMENT. The payment under this paragraph may be in the form of a single consolidated payment or in the form of such periodic installments as the Secretary may specify.

For Medicaid incentives, the funds go to the states for disbursement through the Medicaid system. There does not seem to be a definitive timing for the incentive payments from the states to the hospitals or other providers.

Source: Perot Systems, April 29, 2009. This information is for informational purposes. It does not represent, and should not be construed as, legal or professional advice.