"Health & Medical News"

Washington — An electronic medical records system connecting patients in New York is one step closer to reality after Gov. David A. Paterson awarded $105 million in grants on March 28 to 19 community-based health information technology projects.

The grants are part of a statewide effort to implement health IT and improve health care, said New York State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, MD. “For the first time, thousands of patients in New York will have access to their own complete electronic medical records, and their doctors will be able to access medical information through a few clicks of a mouse,” he said.

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Washington — Medicare is facing a long-term financial meltdown, but health policy experts said Congress is not likely in this election year to take the broad actions needed to keep the program sustainable.

Both the physician and hospital portions of the program are in trouble, according to the 2008 Medicare trustees report, released late last month. Part B, of which spending on physician services constitutes about 30%, does not face insolvency because it automatically is funded by general tax revenues and beneficiary premiums.

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Washington — Physician groups reacted with cautious optimism to a new government pilot project that will give higher Medicare payments to doctors who adopt electronic medical records.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it wants 1,200 physician practices to participate. It will begin recruitment next summer, giving priority to small- and medium-sized practices. The agency has not determined how it will choose the practices. It also has not calculated how large the incentive payments will be. CMS will determine how much savings the program will generate and then calibrate payouts so the project ends up budget-neutral.

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is pouring $15.9 million into a new effort to give doctors and the public a more accurate assessment of physician performance.

The plan is to combine national Medicare and private health plan claims data and then use the data for public reporting of physician performance on quality and cost measures. Reporting in select areas is set for 2010.

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