The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of E-Health Standards and Services announced yesterday that almost $90 million have been paid out to eligible practices and hospitals under the Meaningful Use EHR incentive program this past September. Robert Anthony, who made the announcement, said that $25 million of the total was paid out to 1400 medical providers and $61 million was paid out to 30 hospitals.

Last month, almost 17,000 eligible providers joined the list of 114,000 – including both hospitals and providers – that have registered for the Meaningful Use program, since its inception on Jan. 1, 2011. Since the program began, CMS has paid over $870 million in incentives, a total which likely reach “$1 billion by the end of this year,” Anthony said.

A number of MTBC’s clients have successfully received their Meaningful Use bonuses with more on the path to doing so. Utilizing MTBC’s state-of-the-art software, providers are able to keep track of their progress in fulfilling MU requirements.

While these figures from CMS are noted by Anthony to be the “earliest of the earliest” data, they do definitely provide proof of the ongoing success of the incentive program. All the thresholds have exceeded what CMS expected would happen this year, Anthony added. All in all, it’s a good sign that the healthcare community is embracing Meaningful Use.

Saad Sawar, Marketing & Communications Lead

Mr. Sawar joined MTBC in the summer of 2011 upon graduation from the University of Michigan. He and his team focus on the promotion of MTBC’s products and services in addition to augmenting MTBC’s nation-wide presence in the Healthcare IT industry.