Iowa health-care providers will be among the first in the nation to begin receiving direct incentives next month for installing electronic medical records in their offices, according to the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Doctors, dentists and other providers whose practices include a high percentage of Medicaid patients can receive up to $63,750 in federal funds over a six-year period to defray the cost of installing or updating electronic systems to replace traditional paper files.

Iowa joins three other states – Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kentucky – in being the first to take advantage of the program, which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. To read a related Business Record story, click here.