With the adoption of any new technology, there will be a perfect bell curve each time. However, EMR adoption was accelerated by the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, also known as Meaningful Use.  By providing a financial incentive, Meaningful Use sped the process up by approximately 7-10 years.

The maximum incentive possible from Medicare in 2009-2011 was $44,000.  

A recent study published in Academic Medicine indicates that under 25 percent of doctors graduating from medical school go into primary care.  The researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services and the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care suggest that the country faces a shortage of primary care physicians and that it will only get worse without fundamental changes.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner received Senate confirmation yesterday to serve as permanent administrator of the federal agency.  The landslide 91 to 7 vote, after she has served over two years as acting administrator following her predecessor Donald Berwick, M.D.’s resignation, makes Tavenner the first CMS administrator to be confirmed by the U.S.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) paid $1.2 billion in Electronic Health Records systems incentive payments in December 2012.  A health insurance specialist at CMS’ office of eHealth Standards and Services characterized the figure to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee by stating, “This is our single largest monthly payment by a factor of three.”