EMRConsultant.com Supports the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Ever since President Bush announced in 2004 an initiative to have the health records of all Americans in an electronic format, the race has been on to accomplish this daunting task. However, unfortunately, unsatisfactory progress has been made to date. Now, with $19 billion allocated specifically for this purpose, this goal will likely be met by the 2014 deadline previously announced.
Palm Beach Gardens, FL (PRWEB) March 9, 2009 -- EMRConsultant.com welcomes the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that was signed into law on February 17th. It provides for $19 billion intended to improve healthcare by incentivizing physicians to adopt interoperable Electronic Health Records, and by improving the infrastructure of required to make such medical software interoperable.
"We're very pleased and supportive of this aspect of the stimulus plan, which is focused on bringing more affordable and better quality health care," said Eric S. Fishman, M.D., Founder and President of EMRConsultant.com.
The specific section within the Stimulus Act is known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) and it provides for $17 billion in physician incentives through Medicare and Medicaid. For instance, the reimbursement system awards physicians up to $44,000 in additional Medicare payments if they purchase and meaningfully use a certified EHR system which allows for sharing of clinical data, by 2011. In addition there is $2 billion designated for improving the infrastructure and standards for EHRs.
Interestingly, while the phrases EHR and Electronic Health Record are used over 100 times in the bill, EMR and Electronic Medical record are entirely absent. It mentions voice recognition as an area for further research.
President Barack Obama stated the day of the signing, "Because we know that spiraling healthcare costs are crushing families and businesses alike, we're taking the most meaningful step in years towards modernizing our healthcare system."
Since 2004, EMRConsultant has provided almost 10,000 recommendations to physicians, and their matching technology improves daily. Physicians and CIOs interested in Electronic Health Records can obtain a free customized analysis of their health information technology needs at EMRConsultant.com, or can query their database of over 300 EHRs in real-time, by visiting http://www.EHRScope.com.
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