Healthcare IT Update

New financial incentives for EHR. But think long & hard before you join the EHR conga line, analysts warn practices.

CMS’s 2010 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule spells out the income opportunities that practices can seize if they want to collect the maximum allowable reimbursement from Medicare next year, and for the first time, electronic health records can be part of a practices PQRI measures.

In particular, the Final Rule indicates that in 2010, physician practices will be able to earn a PQRI incentive payment of 2 percent of their estimated total Part B allowed charges — and CMS will offer additional reporting options to help ease that process.

CMS will add 30 individual PQRI measures and six measures groups on which individual eligible professionals may report, the Final Rule indicates. The Final Rule will also add an electronic health record (EHR)-based reporting mechanism, which will “promote the adoption and use…