Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) on Thursday unveiled a plan to budget $30 million to encourage health care providers to adopt electronic health record systems to reduce medical errors and improve quality of care, the AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
Doyle proposed providing $20 million in grants to help transition not-for-profit organizations to EHRs and an additional $10 million in tax credits for physicians and for-profit hospitals to help cover the cost of their transition to EHRs, the AP/Pioneer Press reports (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1/25).
The proposal also includes an unspecified amount of funding for the Wisconsin eHealth Care Quality and Patient Safety Board, which will oversee the EHR initiatives, the Madison Capital Times reports (Davidoff, Madison Capital Times, 1/25).
A state task force has released a strategy to fully transition to EHRs by 2010. Doyle called that goal ambitious but said that major developments could be made in the next five years and that achieving interoperability will be the challenge.
Some of the funding for the proposal will come from the state's patient compensation fund, which covers large medical malpractice suit judgments. Physicians and hospitals contribute to the fund. Doyle's plan will be included in his state budget proposal that will be released next month (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1/25).