Will higher physician payments and bonuses lead to lower costs?

As reported by the Washington Post, CMS is attempting to jump-start the adoption of electronic health records/electronic medical records (EHR/EMR) and e-prescribing with a new program that will pay physicians and practices a bonus for using electronic prescribing tools. Practices that move to electronic prescribing methods will receive bonuses of 2% in 2009 and 2010, bonuses of 1% in 2011 and 2012, and bonuses of 1/2 % in 2013.
At the same time, the New York Times is reporting on Philadelphia area insurers that are offering bonus payments or increased payments to physicians for using tools such as telephone visits, e-mail “visits,” …read more