The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded $5.75 million in federal matching funds across six states and the District of Columbia for state planning activities to implement the EHR incentive program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

CMS said ARRA provides a 90 percent federal match for state planning activities to administer the incentive payments to Medicaid providers to ensure their proper payments through audits and to participate in statewide efforts to promote interoperability and meaningful use of EHR technology statewide and, eventually, across the U.S.

The states receiving funds are:

• West Virginia - $945,000;
• New Hampshire - $335,000;
• Rhode Island - $401,000;
• Indiana - $2.31 million;
• District of Columbia - $817,000;
• Delaware - $247,000; and
• Connecticut - $695,000.

The states will use their federal matching funds for planning activities that include conducting an analysis to determine the current status of health IT activities in their respective states, according to the agency.  As part of that process, they will gather information on issues such as existing barriers to their use of EHRs, provider eligibility for EHR incentive payments and the creation of a state Medicaid health IT Plan, which will define the states' vision for its long-term health IT use.