Department of Medical Assistance Services

ARRA Incentives

Updated as of: April 29, 2010

BACKGROUND
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) enacted on February 17, 2009 is intended to stimulate the economy. Among other provisions, the new law provides major opportunities for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), its partner agencies, and the States to improve the nation’s health care through health information technology (HIT). To promote the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR), incentives are available for eligible entities. For a copy of the full bill, go to: http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/overview/index.html

The HIT provisions of the Recovery Act are found primarily in Title XIII, Division A, Health Information Technology, and in Title IV of Division B, Medicare and Medicaid Health Information Technology. These titles together are cited as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act or the HITECH Act. Under Title IV, funding is available to certain eligible professionals (EPs) and hospitals, as described below. Funds will be distributed through Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments to EPs, physicians, and hospitals that are “meaningful EHR users.”

ARRA also provides for Regional Extension Centers (RECs) to provide outreach, education, and technical assistance to assist providers in adopting, upgrading, and implementing Electronic Health Records (EHR) and/or attaining or exceeding meaningful use of certified EHR. RECs will provide on-site technical assistance.

To assess the status of medical office technology and the level of provider readiness to adopt Health Information Technology (HIT), The Virginia Health Information Technology Advisory Commission (HITAC) is conducting a scan of the Virginia provider population. A link for the scan will be available on the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of HIT web page.

PROPOSED PROCESS
The process as conceived by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will begin when a provider registers with the National Level Repository (NLR) and elects consideration for incentives for a given state and program (Medicaid/Medicare). Then, in the case of a Virginia Medicaid selection, DMAS will be notified by the NLR and will then contact the provider to begin the eligibility process. CMS expects to have the NLR operable by January 2011. DMAS expects to begin reviewing applications in the first half of 2011.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
For an overview of eligibility criteria for the incentives, follow this link.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
To view CMS Proposed Requirements for the Electronic Health Records (EHR) Medicaid Incentive Payment Program, please visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Recovery/11_HealthIT.asp.

To view ONC Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology; Interim Final Rule, please visit: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/E9-31216.pdf.

To visit the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of HIT please follow this link: http://www.hits.virginia.gov/.

Please direct questions about ARRA Medicaid incentives in Virginia to:
ARRA-Medicaid-Incentives@dmas.virginia.gov