I was a little disturbed when I read this article on InformationWeek that talks about States not being able to verify the EHR stimulus eligibility. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office of the inspector general has found that state Medicaid agencies are limited in their ability to verify self-reported eligibility information prior to issuing payments under the Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive program, and that this lack of reporting could harm the integrity of states’ EHR incentive payments.
The amazing thing is that we’re talking about the Medicaid EHR stimulus money. This doesn’t even mean we’re talking about verifying the eligibility of something as complex as meaningful use. we’re talking about much simpler verification information.
Of course, many might ask why an EHR incentive program has requirements that we couldn’t rationally require. Although, the answer to that question is likely stuck in the mess that is our legislative process.
