Iowa’s Medicaid program is the first to receive matching federal funds to plan for the implementation of an EHRs incentive program as established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Iowa will receive $1.6 million in matching funds.

“While Iowa is the first state to receive approval of its plan for implementing the Recovery Act’s EHR incentive program, a number of other states have submitted plans as well,” said Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at CMS.

Iowa will, according to CMS, use the funds for planning activities such as conducting an analysis to determine the status of health IT in the state, including barriers to EHR implementation, eligibility for EHR incentive payments and the creation of a state Medicaid health information technology plan.

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