The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced nearly $16 million in awards to twelve states on February 26 for proposed state Medicaid planning activities that are needed to implement provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on Medicaid payment incentives to providers for the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records. The largest federal awards for planning, at 90 percent Medicaid administrative FFP, were to Arizona ($2.89 million), Illinois ($2.18 million), Kansas ($1.7 million), Florida ($1.69 million), Virginia ($1.66 million), Michigan ($1.52 million), and Maine ($1.4 million). Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Vermont, and Alabama also obtained CMS approval of substantial federal awards for their proposed planning activities. Key benefits of electronic health records emphasized by CMS and the states included:
- Making it easier for patients to access information they need to participate in decisions about their health care;
- Making it easier for providers to coordinate care, especially where many providers are attempting to serve a patient with complex medical conditions;
- Improving quality, outcomes, and patient satisfaction with care;
- Reducing duplication of services, unnecessary health care
- expenditures, and potentially life-threatening medical errors.
State Medicaid planning activities targeted by the successful applicants included analyzing the current status of health IT in the state, assessing current barriers in the provider community to widespread adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records, participating in statewide efforts to promote interoperable systems connected through health information exchanges, and developing state Medicaid health information technology plans (SMHPs) to ensure the proper administration of Medicaid incentive payments for qualifying hospitals and health care practitioners. The February 26 announcement will be one of several major announcements in the run-up to the implementation of billions of dollars in new, state-designed Medicaid incentive payments to providers in 2011.
