So how’s that move to electronic medical records going? The latest figures released by the leaders of U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finds that more than half of all healthcare pros who are eligible for help from the feds moving to electronic medical records (EMR) have gotten onboard. A whopping 58% of eliglible healthcare providers have taken advantage of the cash the government’s spending to help ease the move to EHR, and the total bill so far: Nearly $8 billion.

It’s expected that before the move’s complete, it’ll cost somewhere in excess of $20 billion to make the conversion.

But the savings to the industry are expected to be significant as well.

The past two years have seen a big uptick in medical pros making the switch to EHR. That’s because time is running out to get a share of the money that’s being offered to the healthcare folks for the project.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 offers physicians who implement EHR systems and demonstrate that they are engaged in “meaningful use” of such systems can receive reimbursements of as much as $44,000 under Medicare, or as much as $65,000 under Medicaid. Hospitals can receive funds from both the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The challenge for most organizations: Achieving “meaningful use.” The feds have decided there are three stages of it and have defined stages one and two.

Healthcare pros have got five years to achieve all three stages and until 2014 to get to stage 2.

Maybe by then, the feds will have stage three figured out.

Tags: CMS, EHR, electronic medical records, federal government, spending