Great strides are being made in furthering the use of health information technology both locally and nationally.

On February 17, 2012 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the number of hospitals using health information technology (IT) has more than doubled in the last two years from 16 to 35 percent and 85 percent of hospitals now report that by 2015 they intend to take advantage of the incentive payments made available through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.HHS also announced new data showing nearly 2,000 hospitals and more than 41,000 doctors have received $3.1 billion in incentive payments for ensuring meaningful use of health IT, particularly certified Electronic Health Records (EHR).

HHS’ announcement details information from a new survey conducted by the American Hospital Association and reported by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.The announcement also highlights new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) detailing $3.12 billion in incentive payments the agency has made to physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers who have started to meaningfully use EHRs to improve the quality of patient care. In January alone, CMS provided $519 million to eligible providers. EHR incentive payments can total as much as $44,000 under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and $63,750 under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.

IHIT has expended more than $2.05M to date to further Indiana’s efforts towards enabling connectivity of hospitals, labs and physicians for meaningful use of health IT. The numbers below show the progress being made in Indiana:

 
For more information on how health IT can lead to safer, better,  and more efficient care, click here.

For more information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, click here.

For more information about the HHS Recovery Act Health IT programs, click here.