The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has confirmed that the Medicare electronic health record (EHR) incentive program payments will be cut by 2 percent as required by the Sequestration Transparency Act.

The 2 percent "sequestration" cuts to Medicare are part of the $1.2 trillion in cuts required by the Sequestration Transparency Act, part of a deal worked out to end last year's debt-ceiling crisis.

According to CMS, the 2 percent reduction will be applied to Medicare EHR incentive payments for reporting periods that end on or after April 1, 2013. If the final day of the reporting period occurs before April 1, 2013, those incentive payments will not be subject to the reduction. Medicaid is exempt from the sequestration cuts.