**GAO-11-159**                      Published: Feb 17, 2011. Publicly Released: Feb 17, 2011.                  

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## Highlights

Congress established two CMS-administered programs--the Electronic Prescribing Program and the Electronic Health Records (EHR) Program--that provide incentive payments to eligible Medicare providers who adopt and use health information technology, and penalties for those who do not. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 required GAO to report on the Electronic Prescribing Program. To do so, GAO examined how CMS determines which providers receive incentive payments and avoid penalties from that program and how many providers received incentive payments in 2009. Also, GAO was asked to examine how the requirements of the two programs compare. GAO reviewed relevant laws and regulations, interviewed CMS officials, and analyzed CMS data on incentive payments made for 2009, which were the most recent data available for a full year.

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## Topics

Health Care

Comparative analysisElectronic health recordsElectronic records managementEligibility determinationsInformation managementInformation technologyMedicarePaymentsPhysiciansProgram evaluationReporting requirementsPolicies and procedures