As many as 45,000 physicians could qualify for Medicaid EMR subsidies of up to $63,750, a George Washington University study says. The Medicaid bonus, authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is an alternative to a Medicare program that pays as much as $44,000 per doctor ($48,400 for those in federally designated shortage areas) over a five-year period.
According to the study, 10 percent of office-based physicians are responsible for more than 70 percent of Medicaid visits, and 60 percent of docs who practice outside hospitals have few or no Medicaid patients. That suggests that small proportion of physicians will meet the stimulus law's threshold of 30 percent Medicaid to qualify for the higher subsidy. The GWU estimate includes pediatricians who can earn up to $42,500 in EMR assistance from the federal government if at least 20 percent of their patients are on Medicaid.
To learn more about the study and the Medicaid provisions in the stimulus:
- see this story in Modern Healthcare (reg. req.)
- read the actual report (.pdf)