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The Senate stripped out provisions in a pending jobs bill that would have put hospital-based physicians who treated outpatients in line to receive healthcare IT incentives under the HITECH Act.

The initial version of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act contained a provision that would have allowed physicians who practice in outpatient or walk-in clinics associated with a hospital to qualify for the Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments if they become “meaningful users” of healthcare IT.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled a pared down version of  the bill without the healthcare IT provisions that focused on business tax credits, highway infrastructure on other job stimulus measures. The Senate may consider another piece of legislation that contains the healthcare IT provisions of the committee’s jobs bill later.

Previously, physicians working in hospital environments were not eligible for the incentives because the HITECH Act said they depend “substantially” on a hospital’s “facilities and equipment, including qualified EHR s.”

Under the earlier version fo the legislation, outpatient physicians working in hospitals would qualify to receive the funding.

Source : Government HealthIT

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