The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act established Medicare incentives for hospitals and for doctors if they used electronic medical records meaningfully. Provisions in the legislation sought to ensure that physicians providing ambulatory care services in provider-based entities would be eligible for EMR incentive payments. However, some proposed regulation by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not follow the intent of this legislation.
Last week, Senator Warner joined his Senate colleagues in a letter strongly urging Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius not to exclude provider-based entities from being eligible for incentive payments for electronic medical record investments in the ARRA.