2,027 Oregon Providers Have Received $77,210,709 Under EHR Incentive Programs

PORTLAND, Ore., June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Over 2,000 Oregon providers were among the 100,000 health care providers who have been paid under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced this week.

In 2010, Oregon's Health Information Technology Extension Center (O-HITEC), a division of OCHIN, Inc. began working with eligible professionals (physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and some physician assistants) to assist these healthcare providers to achieve the federally defined meaningful use requirements.  O-HITEC set an aggressive goal of assisting 2,700 eligible providers to achieve the meaningful use criteria necessary to qualify for payment under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, despite Oregon's high health information technology adoption rate in both the public and private healthcare sectors, even prior to the EHR Incentive Program. As of June of 2012, over 3,000 providers are receiving O-HITEC's assistance to qualify for EHR incentive payments. 

CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Sc.M., first proposed the 100,000 goal in March in a blog that declared 2012 the "Year of Meaningful Use" (http://blog.cms.gov/2012/03/23/2012-the-year-of-meaningful-use/).

In a CMS release, the Acting Administrator Tavenner said, "meeting this goal so early in the year is a testament to the commitment of everyone who has worked hard to meet the challenges of integrating EHRs and health information technology into clinical practice," "Not only have state Medicaid programs, public health departments, and many other stakeholders given their support to the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, but numerous eligible health professionals and hospitals have recognized the potential of EHRs to provide better patient care, reduce medical errors, cut down on paperwork, and eliminate duplicate screenings and tests."

O-HITEC has partnered with public, private and non-profit organizations to encourage eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals to adopt, implement, upgrade, and meaningfully use certified EHR technology to improve healthcare. "This continues to be a collaborative effort and our partners are critical to our success," said Dawn Bonder, O-HITEC's Director. O-HITEC members currently total over 3,000 eligible professionals throughout the state of Oregon.  

For more information on OCHIN O-HITEC visit: www.ochin.org or www.o-hitec.org

Forty-four states are participating in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program as of May 2012. For more information on which states are participating, please visit the EHR Incentive Programs website at http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/MedicaidStateInfo.html. CMS expects the remaining states to launch their Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs by the end of 2012.

For more information on the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, visit: http://www.cms.gov/ehrincentiveprograms/.

Information on ONC's broad range of activities may be viewed at http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__home/1204.

Contacts:
Ruby Haughton-Pitts
Communications Director
OCHIN, Inc.
(503) 784-2284
[email protected]

SOURCE OCHIN, Inc.