I just finished reading a few articles about the Health Care bill and some of the provisions for reimbursing physicians who adopt electronic health records (EHR) and it is pretty confusing. From what I can gather a physician can indeed apply for some reimbursement for converting to EHR starting around 2010; however, there seems to be a host of rules and regulations to comply with, and even then you may not get back what you put into it. For instance, one article I read states that a physician must use an approved EHR program. This seems to indicate that there may be some inside manipulation as to which software programs are “approved.” Further it would seem that the reimbursement only applies to physicians who accept either Medicare or Medicaid or both and then they have to meet the minimum percentage of patients who are on either of the government programs.
Without getting too political, as I am more for the business of transcription, it would seem that in order to comply and apply for these reimbursements, a physician would indeed have to comply with several government regulations and in effect turn a portion of their business over to government control in exchange for a reimbursement to put you into a program of government control. I am open for discussion on this topic, if anyone has some opinions that they would like to express, I would be happy to hear about it.
If you are a physician reading this, take a few moments to look into our online program for transcription services at A-1 Medical Transcription (aonemt.com).