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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now a law and in place!
Below are some of the highlights contained in the Bill.
Here’s my overview…

The Bill, $789 billion, includes federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions, and domestic spending in education, health care, and infrastructure, including the energy sector. There are nearly $275 billion in economic recovery tax cuts and $550 billion in investments with accountability measures built in. Highlights for healthcare practitioners and their practices are:

• $20 billion for health information technology (to modernize health information technology systems), to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies.

• $4 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments.

• $43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training.

• $39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid.

• $70 billion of Alternative Minimum Tax relief.

• $1.5 billion for community health centers; $420 million to combat avian flu; $335 million for programs that combat AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis.

• $87 billion to help states with Medicaid.

• $3.75 billion for new construction of hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers at Department of Defense Facilities, and $455 million in renovations to provide state-of-the-art medical care to service members and their families.

• Veterans Medical Facilities: $950 million for veterans’ medical facilities (in needed repairs, including energy efficiency projects, at its 153 medical facilities)

• Prevention and Wellness Fund: $3 billion to fight preventable chronic diseases and infectious diseases. This includes hospital infection prevention, Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grants for state and local public health departments, immunization programs, and evidence-based disease prevention.

• Healthcare Effectiveness Research: $1.1 billion for Healthcare Research and Quality programs to compare the effectiveness of different medical treatments funded by Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP.

• Training Primary Care Providers: $600 million to address shortages and prepare our country for universal healthcare by training primary healthcare providers including doctors, dentists, and nurses as well as helping pay medical school expenses for students who agree to practice in underserved communities through the National Health Service Corps.

• Indian Health Service Facilities: $550 million to modernize aging hospitals and health clinics and make healthcare technology upgrades to improve healthcare for underserved rural populations.

• Unemployment Insurance Benefits Extension: $27 billion to continue the current extended unemployment benefits program – through December 31, 2009 given rising unemployment.

• Increased Benefits: $9 billion to increase the current average unemployment insurance.

• Medicare and Medicaid Regulations: The bill extends the moratorium on Medicaid and Medicare regulations.

See equipment-tax-savings-flyer1 for more information from Henry Schein Financial.