Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt applauded more than 30 communities for registering for a new demonstration project that will improve efficiency in healthcare, says a press release from the HHS. The project provides incentive payments to primary-care physician practices that use certified electronic health records to improve the quality of patient care.

"This is an outstanding response from communities and, in some cases, entire states," Leavitt says.

The project aims to reduce medical errors and improve the quality of care for an estimated 3.6 million Americans. The performance of the small and medium physician practices would be measured against specific clinical measures over a five-year period. Out of these, 1,200 physician practices in 12 communities that use certified EHRs to improve quality would be provided financial incentives, and bonus payments would be awarded after CMS has assessed the number of EHR functionalities a physician group has incorporated into its practice.

Under the demonstration, total payments for all five years may be up to $58,000 per physician or $290,000 per practice.

The 12 EHR community partners will be announced in June. CMS will then begin working with community partners to recruit small- and medium-size primary-care physician practices to take part in the demonstration.