Q. Are providers allowed to participate in both the Medicare & Medicaid programs?
A. No, you may only participate in one or the other.

Q. Can multispecialty groups have some physicians participate in the Medicare incentive and some participate in the Medicaid incentive?
A. Yes. Incentives will be paid to eligible professionals on an individual, per-provider basis. That means that one provider in a group can elect to participate in the Medicare program while another in the same practice can elect to participate in the Medicaid program (provided s/he meets the Medicaid patient volume threshold requirements).

Q. How do you make the choice between Medicare and Medicaid program and notify them?
A. It is ultimately your decision, however, you may want to consider that the Medicaid program is a higher bonus payment, if you are eligible. Details of the attestation process for Medicaid have not yet been released.

Q. Our Medicare and public aid patients are less than 5%of our patients will this be worth trying to qualify?
A. You will not be able to qualify for the Medicaid program (which requires 30% patient volume, with the exception of 20% for pediatricians), however, you should consider participation in Medicare. The Medicare bonus payment program will pay 75% of your total allowed charges.

Q. How do we make the Program selection and with who?
A. Medicare funds will be paid through your carrier or your Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) on a rolling basis based on an "attestation process". CMS has proposed to require, for the first year of the bonus program, a 90-day period for which "eligible providers" to attest that they have complied with the 25 measures of "meaningful use" - and are using a qualified system. This written "attestation" will likely be forms you will need to complete to prove that you have a qualified system, and are complying with the 25 criteria for meaningful use. At this time, there is no further detail about the attestation process.

Q. I was told that the stimulus money is based on the percentage of your practice that is Medicare. So if you have a patient base of 25% Medicare you will only receive 25% of the $44,000?
A. Medicare payments will be calculated on an individual-Professional basis. For each year under the incentive program, an EP will receive 75 percent of the EP's total "allowed charges" (that is, the amounts Medicare pays under the PFS during the Payment Year). For the first payment year, in order to qualify for the total incentive amount of $18,000, an eligible professional would need at least $24,000 in Medicare billing ($24,000 - 75% = $18,000). Providers billing less than $24,000 in Medicare charges would receive 75% of that lesser total Medicare billing for the year. Note, the first year payment cap is $18,000 and the incentive amounts scale down each year.