When ONC lunched the meaningful use program paying doctors up to $44,000 or more to adopt electronic medical records, I wondered–“how would they know?” Then I was told there would be a test. But I misheard, it’s not a test. Instead providers get to attest. For those of you like me with poor English skills, that means you get to self-report, which sounds much easier. Go to this page, follow the instructions and the money will magically arrive. Of course you have to be a qualified entity (doctor, hospital, etc) and you have to be getting funds from Medicare or Medicaid. And of course there’s never been any fraud or false reporting in those programs, so we’re completely assured that our tax-dollars (or the loan from the Chinese) are being well spent. Actually there will be audits and checks, and next year the bar for not only the use of the EMR but also the burden of proof will be raised. But for now, this looks like a way to spend that ARRA money fast and you can’t believe that this opportunity will happen for America’s providers again.