The federal stimulus bill has a juicy carrot in the form of $17.2 billion in bonus payments for doctors to purchase electronic medical record (EMR) systems.
And if doctors still pass up the offer, the government will have a stick waiting for them in the form of reduced payment rates.
The push to buy EMR systems has caused an immediate spike in interest at many South Florida health information technology companies. Sales have been up 250 percent, month-over-month, from January through March, said Andrew Carricarte, president and CEO of Miami-based IOS Health Systems. His company, which sells a Web-based EMR system, recently hired six people. read full story