New York City paying doctors to use electronic health records
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
January 7, 2009
New York City is launching a $60 million campaign to encourage primary care physicians to ditch their pens and pads of paper for electronic medical records, reports The New York Times. About 1,000 doctors have signed up to take part in this program throughout the last year.
Additionally, the effort will soon give doctors an added incentive to keep patients healthy: Payments of $100 per patient who meets certain goals, like cholesterol levels, up to $20,000 per doctor. Doctors will also be connected through the electronic system to other offices, providing the opportunity to compare rates and access to more patient information. With subsidization from the city, the electronic system costs $24,000 to implement, down from $45,000 for practices that have 10% of its patients on Medicaid or uninsured.
To read more, click here.
