A new bill being considered by the Senate would extend incentive payments for the meaningful use of electronic health records to behavioral healthcare and substance abuse treatment providers, according to Health Imaging.
Under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, billions of dollars were set aside to encourage healthcare providers to begin using electronic health records. However, these funds were reserved only for medical doctors. The proposed legislation would open the program up to many more providers.
The bill was sponsored by Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island. He said that allowing more types of providers access to the funding would be a boon to the wider healthcare system.
"Mental healthcare is a critical component of our healthcare safety net, and allowing these providers access to cost-saving, quality-enhancing advances in health IT will improve the care that millions of American receive," he told the news source.
By following the meaningful use rules laid out by the government, doctors may become eligible for a piece of the $20 billion in stimulus funding that has been made available by the incentive program.