Meaningful Use Payouts Exceed $5 Billion

Total payouts to hospitals and eligible professionals in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs exceeded $5 billion through April of this year. But the number of new registrations among EPs dropped in April for the second month in a row, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

In April, 7,696 EPs registered for the Medicare incentive program, slightly more than the 6,897 who enrolled in March; but the steep drop in Medicaid registrations to 4,592 in April from 7,143 the previous month resulted in an overall decline. The number of new hospital registrants also dipped to 86 from 128.