WASHINGTON – The government has paid $400 million in meaningful use incentives to physicians and hospitals so far, a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services official told the Health IT Policy Committee Aug. 3.

To date, about 77,000 providers have registered for the program aimed at promoting the adoption and use of electronic health records.

CMS has collected data about healthcare providers that have attested that meet Stage 1 meaningful use, offering a glimpse of the experience of early adopters of certified electronic health records. One of the findings showed that providers used required EHR functions with a higher percentage of patients than was called for in the requirements, according to CMS officials.

Twenty-one states have launched their Medicaid EHR program, with Arizona, Connecticut, Rhode Island and West Virginia in the past month, according to CMS.

Among preliminary data, 2,383 physicians and other eligible professionals had verified that they met meaningful use requirements under the Medicare program, with 137 attesting unsuccessfully. The analysis did not explain why those providers failed attestation, but the agency will drill down to find the reason behind the numbers, said Robert Tagalicod, the new director of CMS’ Office of e-Health Standards and Services. However, 100 hospitals have attested and all have done so successfully.

The agency is cautious about what the numbers may indicate and is aware that early adopters may have more experience with EHRs than later adopters, Tagalicod told the Health IT Policy Committee, which advises the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC).

“It would be too early to draw conclusions yet, but we will be working closely with the policy committee as well as ONC to understand what these data say to us and how we should interpret them so we can translate them into something more programmatic,” he said.

CMS has paid Medicaid incentives to 3,500 physicians and hospitals for adoption, implementation and upgrades of certified EHR technology, and under the Medicare program, 1,000 physicians and hospitals.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national health IT coordinator said that from what he has heard from the field, there is “an incredible amount of movement happening. The changes that are happening may be difficult to see day to day. But from where we are today from where we were two years ago, the transformation is real and it’s happening.”

One particular statistic in CMS’ data is promising. The number of physicians who received meaningful use incentive payments under Medicare increased significantly in July over June, from 329 physicians to 566, said Elizabeth Holland, CMS’ director of health IT initiatives group. “We’re hoping that that will be a continuing trend,” she said.

To receive payments of up to $18,000 in 2011, providers must not only attest that they can demonstrate meaningful use but meet the threshold of $24,000 for allowed charges in claims for covered services to Medicare beneficiaries during 2011.

More key findings on next page.