How will the ARRA affect health care providers?
The ARRA provision that will have the greatest affect on health care providers will be incentive payments for health care providers (i.e., hospitals and physicians/eligible professionals) for the meaningful use of certified electronic health records (EHR). The Medicare and Medicaid programs will make these payments directly to providers. Providers must establish meaningful EHR use before they can receive any Medicare incentive payments. Recipients of Medicaid incentives will have 1 year to achieve meaningful use after receiving the first incentive payment. By 2015, Medicare providers that are not meaningful EHR users will have their Medicare reimbursement rate decreased by 1% per year up to a potential maximum penalty of 5%.
