Payments to Michigan Medicaid Health Care Providers for Using Electronic Health Records Breaks $100 Million

LANSING - More than $100 million in incentive payments have been paid to qualified Michigan Medicaid health care providers for using or setting up electronic health record (EHR) systems in the past 16 months. The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) is facilitating the payments, which are 100 percent federally funded.

The Medicaid EHR Incentive Program was created to provide financial incentives to use EHRs. Only professionals and hospitals that serve Medicaid patients are eligible. Within Michigan, payments have been made to 86 hospitals and 1,566 professionals. It is expected that more than $400 million could be paid to Michigan hospitals and health care professionals throughout the life of the program.

A separate program administered by the federal government makes payments to those who serve Medicare patients. That program has paid out more than $128 million to date to Michigan providers. Eligible professionals have to choose either the Medicaid or Medicare program, whereas eligible hospitals can qualify for both programs.

"Governor Snyder in his health and wellness message explained that EHRs and health information exchange will enable a patient's information to be available where needed most, the point of care, whether that's in your doctor's office or in an emergency room" said James K. Haveman, Director of the MDCH. "Additionally, EHRs are an essential tool in the effort to reduce the cost of our health care system. The Medicaid EHR Incentive Program has helped advance all of these goals and, at the same time, brought a tremendous amount of federal funding into the state."

A recent survey of professionals participating in the EHR Incentive Program found that many health care practices are using their EHRs to electronically transmit prescriptions to pharmacies. EHRs are starting to be used for computerized ordering of medications, lab tests, and radiology images; electronic referrals; generation of printed or electronic summaries of office visits for patients; and generation of patient reminders. The survey found that the longer an office used an EHR system, the number of major benefits they experienced increased.

"The journey to using our EHR system in a meaningful way, as the Incentive Program defines it, was a bumpy road," said Gayatri Shanker, MD, a Saginaw physician and one of the professionals that received incentives under the Medicaid program. "However, with federally funded technical assistance, we were able to become one of the first practices in the State of Michigan to achieve meaningful use. Now we look back and wonder how we were able to function without an electronic health record. We feel proud to know that we are providing the best possible care through the utilization of our EHR."

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