For physician practices that have Medicaid patients, we talked with Don Betts, Georgia Tech, who is a service delivery partner with GA-HITREC (click here). Don specializes in assisting physician practices in achieving Meaningful Use, and here is an overview of what he had to say regarding Medicaid’s Meaningful Use:

Healthcare providers can receive a maximum of $63,750 from Medicaid over a six year period. Eligible Professional (EP) means more provider types than the Medicare incentive – in addition to physicians, it includesnurse practitioners, midwives, dentists and physician assistants at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). The incentive is based on using a certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) in a defined Meaningful Use way. The Meaningful Use requirements will be phased in over 3 stages and several years, with Stage 1 having started in 2011. Medicaid is making it easier to receive the incentive for 2011 and 2012. EPs don’t have to meet Stage 1 requirements but merely show that they have adopted, implemented, or upgraded to a certified EHR. Here are some takeaways for Medicaid Stage 1 (2011 and 2012):

• How much $$: Each EP that has a minimum of 30% Medicaid patient encounters (20% for Pediatricians) can receive $21,250 in year one. For example, if there are 5 EPs in the practice, then there may be up to $106,250 (5 x $21,250) of incentives for year 1. Each EP’s patient volume needs to be reviewed to determine if there is potential. They can also qualify as a group.
• Who gets paid: Similar to Medicare, payments are made to the individual EP (his or her SSN) or to the physician practice (the practice’s TIN number). The EP may reassign the incentive $ to the physician practice.
• How to get paid: To get paid for year 1, each EP has to register with CMS, then “attest” with DCH by showing proof of the EHR upgrade and completing a volume calculator.
• State of Georgia: The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) administers the meaningful use program (click here ).
• HIPAA: don’t forget to review the new privacy and security requirements.

One final note – many physician practices have already qualified for Stage 1 and have received their checks. This is real money flowing to the practices (for details, click here ). If your client has potential, make sure they can benefit!