Under State Medicaid Director (SMD) Letter #11-004 and SMD Letter #10-016, states may request 90/10 HITECH administrative funding to on-board providers that are eligible for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. In this context, on-boarding refers to the HIE's activities involved in connecting a provider to the HIE so that the provider is able to successfully exchange data and use the HIE's services. This HITECH funding is available to cover an HIE's reasonable costs (e.g., interfaces and testing) to on-board eligible providers-that is, the costs incurred by an HIE to on-board a provider. This funding cannot cover the providers' costs to supplement the functionality of providers' specific EHR, nor can it cover the EHR vendors' costs. It is CMS' view that such on-boarding activities meet the criteria set forth in SMD Letter #10-016, Enclosure C.
Funding for on-boarding must comply with the guidance in SMD Letter #11-004 with respect to the fair share principle and cost allocation. However, funding for on-boarding can be used only to connect providers to the HIE if those providers are eligible for Medicaid EHR Incentive payments. Because funding for on-boarding will not directly benefit parties who do not participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, the fair share principle will be satisfied without contributions from other payers. All appropriate on-boarding costs can be cost allocated entirely to the 90/10 HITECH funding.
Please note that all Medicaid HITECH funding for HIE activities must enable Medicaid providers to meet meaningful use.
Supplemental Links:
- This FAQ was released as part of a larger set. View the full set. (PDF, 288.05 KB)