DES MOINES, IA – Iowa is the first state to receive federal matching funds for its plans to use Medicaid incentive payments for meaningful use of electronic health records.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Monday that Iowa’s Medicaid program is receiving $1.6 million in federal matching funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

ARRA provides a 90 percent federal match for state planning activities to administer the incentive payments to Medicaid providers to ensure their proper payments through audits and participate in statewide efforts to promote interoperability and meaningful use of EHR technology.

State officials say Iowa will use its federal funds to analyze the status of health information technology activities in the state, among other projects. State officials will gather information on such issues as barriers to the use of EHRs, provider eligibility for EHR incentive payments and the creation of a State Medicaid HIT Plan, which will define the state’s vision for its long-term HIT use.

“While Iowa is the first state to receive approval of its plan for implementing the Recovery Act’s EHR incentive program, a number of other states have submitted plans as well,” said Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at CMS. “Meaningful and interoperable use of EHRs in Medicaid will increase healthcare efficiency, reduce medical errors and improve quality-outcomes and patient satisfaction within and across the states.”

Officials say the state will also use funding for this planning phase to assess expectations of its incentive payment recipients and their need for personal health records.