CMS grants four states EHR incentive program matching funds

Medicaid programs in South Carolina, Alaska, Kentucky and Wisconsin will receive federal matching funds for state planning activities necessary to implement the EHR incentive program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported Thursday.

The ARRA will provide a 90 percent federal funding match for state planning activities to administer the incentive payments to Medicaid providers, ensure their proper payments through audits and participate in statewide efforts to promote interoperability and meaningful use of EHR technology statewide.

The states will receive the following federal matching funds:

• Kentucky: $2.6 million;
• Wisconsin: $1.37 million;
• Alaska: $900,000; and
• South Carolina: $1.48 million.

According to CMS, the states will use their funds for planning activities that include conducting a comprehensive analysis to determine the current status of health IT activities in their states. As part of that process, the states are required to gather information on issues such as existing barriers to its use of EHRs, provider eligibility for EHR incentive payments and the creation of a state Medicaid health IT plan, which will define the states’ visions for their long-term health IT use.