In its latest audit of the EHR Incentive Program for Medicare, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has a provided the number and characteristics of eligible hospitals (EHs) and professionals (EPs) awarded incentive payments for the 2011–2012 program year. The data come from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
CMS disbursed $6.3 billion in 2012, more than double the amount ($2.3 billion) awarded in 2011. All told, $8.6 billion of the $30 billion set aside for the EHR Incentive Programs as whole was doled out during the first two years of Medicare meaningful use.
Deeping deeper, 2,291 hospitals received $3.5 billion in 2012, nearly half of all hospitals eligible for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program (48%) and almost three times as many hospitals receiving payments in 2011. According to the GAO report, amount of payments to hospitals grew from $1.3 billion (2011) to $3.5 billion (2012) as a result of hospitals beginning their participation in meaningful use for the first time in 2012.
Of those incentives ranging from $4,827 on the low end to $4.7 million on the high, the median payment was $1.4 million, a slight decrease compared to the previous year’s mark of $1.6 million:
This is because most of the 28 percent of hospitals that were awarded a Medicare EHR incentive payment for 2012 received lower incentive payments for their second year of participation, as the formula reduces the potential incentive payment by 25 percent each year after an acute care hospital is first awarded a payment from the Medicare EHR program.
Meanwhile, a total of 183,712 EPs took home $2.8 billion in Medicare EHR incentive payments in 2012, representing nearly a third of all professionals eligible for the program (31%). While still in the minority, the increase in EPs from 2011 to 2012 was significant as only ten percent of EPs received incentives in 2011 — that is, 58,331 professionals. Therefore, the jump in total payments made in 2011 versus 2012 — $994.6 million compared to $2.8 billion — comes as no surprise.
A common link between the two groups of providers is geographic location. The greatest number of EHs and EPs work in the South (39%and 31%, respectively) while the smaller number are located in the West (15%and 18%, respectively). Likewise, urban providers were much more likely that than non-urban counterparts to receive incentives. Sixty-one of EHs receiving payments were situated in urban areas; 90 percent of EPs fit that characteristic.
