Starting in May, California started issuing checks to physicians who qualify for the Federal Medi-Cal EHR incentive funds that are to be issued for qualifying for “meaningful use” of an EHR system. Under the Federal program enacted in 2009, physicians substantially participating in the Medi-Cal program are eligible for up to $64,500 in incentive funds. Physicians participating in the Medicare program are eligible for up to $44,000 in incentive funds. The incentive funds are distributed incrementally, with the largest portion paid out in the first year. More than 6,900 physicians and other health care practitioners attested to qualify for the Medi-Cal incentive funds for 2011, so $146.6 million is slated to be paid out. As of this writing, 263 have been paid for a total of $5,5877,750.