MCLEAN, Va., June 9, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) reported a second milestone in support of the National Level Repository (NLR) for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). On April 18, CMS opened a secure website through which eligible health care providers can demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology to CMS by "attesting" to their compliance with program requirements. The first payments under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program were issued May 19.
Developed and maintained by Northrop Grumman under contract with CMS, the NLR stores the attestation information and determines if the criteria for meaningful use have been met. The system calculates payment amounts for Medicare eligible professionals and tracks and reports on all EHR incentive payments made for Medicare and Medicaid participants. Earlier this year, the NLR passed a first milestone through its support of registration for both the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, which opened on Jan. 3, and the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, which also opened on Jan. 3 in some states. Participants in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program must initiate registration through the NLR before completing the registration process at the state level.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, established the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs to provide incentive payments to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals that adopt and demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology.
"The NLR's support for the registration and attestation systems mark important milestones as CMS fosters broader use of electronic health records by providers in support of better patient care," said Amy Caro, Northrop Grumman's vice president of health information technology programs. "Northrop Grumman values its strong partnership with CMS as we continue to meet critical objectives to increase the adoption of health information technology across the Medicare and Medicaid programs."
Northrop Grumman will continue to maintain the NLR database as it collects, updates and processes meaningful use data that is critical for providers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
The NLR task order was awarded to Northrop Grumman in May 2010 under the Enterprise System Development indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract.
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CONTACT: Megan Mitchell (703) 556-1657 megan.mitchell@ngc.com Christy Whitman (571) 213-5302 christine.whitman@ngc.com
