Health plans start to fund IT adoption

Insurance companies are finally starting to provide some financial incentives for physicians to adopt health IT. According to a study by Health Industry Insights in Framingham, MA, 37 percent of plans say they are funding physician technology investments, and 33 percent say they're rewarding health IT as part of pay-for-performance programs (Health Data Management, June 2007).

The report didn't indicate how much the payers are investing in HIT. But, since most P4P bonuses are under 5 percent of physician reimbursement, the plans' health IT incentives are probably quite modest.