On Wednesday, CMS announced that California will receive a matching grant of about $2.48 million to lay the groundwork for the state's administration of incentive payments for electronic health record usage by health care providers who participate in Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, Government Health IT reports.
Under the federal economic stimulus package, Medicaid providers will be eligible for $63,750 in incentive payments over six years if they demonstrate "meaningful use" of EHRs (Moore, Government Health IT, 12/9).
California officials plan to use the funds to assess the current status of health information technology activities in the state, including:
- Provider eligibility for incentive payments; and
- Development of a plan for health IT in Medi-Cal.
State officials also will size up barriers to EHR usage (CMS release, 12/9).
CMS also announced Medicaid IT planning grants for five other states and the U.S. Virgin Islands yesterday (Government Health IT, 12/9).