So you have checked a few items off your list: (1) You determined you are an eligible health care provider, (2) You have calculated an estimate incentive payment and realize what's at stake in terms of reimbursement, (3) You have begun the registration process with CMS (Medicare) or the agency in your state administering the Medicaid program, and (4) You purchased an EHR system that is certified by the Office of the National Coordinator Authorized and Testing Certification Body.

The USDA's Distance Learning and Telemedicine (or DLT) program is one of the most popular annual federal grant programs. Highly competitive, the DLT program makes awards ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 for organizations that provide education or healthcare telecommunications services to rural populations. DLT also has one of the more complex application packages, and requires applicants to provide population tables, maps, and poverty rates for each proposed service area (end-users), as well as hub sites from which services will be delivered.

At the heart of the debates in Washington and in state capitals across the country is the ongoing crisis in public finance as politicians, unions, lobbyists, policy wonks, and others debate just what it will take to align revenues to outlays. With the 111^th Congress having left Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 appropriations unfinished, it remains up to the 112^th Congress not only to finish the FY2011 spending bills but also begin work on the budget for FY2012.

From one of the more memorable movie scenes of the past 20 years, you may recall a phone conversation between Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr. that portrays the amusing contract negotiation of an agent and one of the professional sports figures he manages. A repeated and emphatic shouting of “Show me the money!” helped endear Jerry McGuire to movie viewers and helped Cruise’s character succeed in achieving his intended task—the movie scene ends with Cruise receiving a simply stated, “Congratulations, you’re still my agent,” from his star-in-the-making. It’s not necessarily the aggressiveness of the message itself but rather its impassioned delivery that may best carry over to grant applications.