AUGUSTA - Maine is one of 12 sites that will participate in a Medicare demonstration project that offers physicians incentives for using electronic health records (EHR) to improve patient care.

Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Tevi Troy will be in Maine tomorrow to announce with Gov. John Baldacci that Maine has been chosen to participate in the project.

Once the project is under way, as many as 1,200 small- and medium-sized primary care physician practices across the nation will receive Medicare incentive payments in exchange for adopting certified EHRs. This effort is expected to help reduce errors and improve health outcomes for an estimated 3.6 million Americans.