CMS issues first EHR payments

Two Oklahoma physicians are among the first recipients nationwide of government incentive payments for the use of electronic health-record systems.

Just days after the CMS opened registration for the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health-record incentive programs, the first provider payments have been issued.

Two doctors at the Gastorf Family Clinic of Durant, Okla., received $21,250 each for having adopted certified electronic health-record systems under the Medicaid EHR incentive program. The state of Kentucky also processed a $2.86 million payment to the University of Kentucky Healthcare, amounting to one-third of total payments for the hospital's participation in the incentive program.

Funding for the incentive payments programs was made available through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Registration for the program opened Jan. 3.