CMS issues guidance for Medicaid IT projects

The CMS has issued guidelines telling state Medicaid directors how to get federal money to cover the administrative expenses of the Medicaid health information technology initiatives funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It also urged states to consider collaborating with each other or local partners to avoid duplication of efforts.

Under ARRA, states are eligible for 100 percent federal participation for incentive payments to providers to adopt electronic health records, and 90 percent for states' costs of administering such programs. In a letter to state Medicaid directors, the CMS set out minimum requirements for the administrative funding. For example, states must provide oversight to ensure meaningful-use compliance and should promote IT for the purposes of improving health quality.

"CMS expects that states will take an incremental approach to the initial implementation of their Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs," the letter said. "For example, states may begin by focusing on provider outreach and registration, then on provider attestation and verification of eligibility, next on provider payments, and finally on capturing meaningful use data."

For more information:
- read the CMS guidelines
- check out this article in Healthcare IT News
- read this piece in The Hill

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