HITECH Legislation Discussion Paper
HITECH Legislation Discussion Paper
Discussion: HITECH Legislation
In order for organizations to receive the incentives offered through the HITECH legislation, they must be able to demonstrate that they are using the technology in meaningful ways. The following criteria for meaningful use must be evident to qualify for EHR incentives (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). The technology must:
• Improve quality, safety, and efficiency, and reduce health disparities
• Engage patients and families
• Improve care coordination
• Improve population and public health
• Ensure adequate privacy and security protections for personal health information
For this Discussion you consider the impact of the meaningful use criteria of the HITECH legislation on the adoption of health information technology.
To prepare:
• Review the Learning Resources on the HITECH legislation and its primary goals.
• Reflect on the positive and negative impact this legislation has had on your organization or one with which you are familiar.
• Consider the incentives to encourage the use of EHRs. Focus on the definition of meaningful use and how it is measured.
• Reflect on how the incentives and meaningful use impact the quality of patient care.
• Find an article in the Walden Library dealing with one of the criteria to qualify for meaningful use and how it has been successfully met.
By Day 3
Post a description of how HITECH legislation has positively or negatively impacted your organization. Address how its related incentives influence the adoption of health information technology in health care and impact the quality of patient care. Provide a summary of the article you identified and explain how it demonstrates the ability of health information technology to meet the requirements of meaningful use.
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HITECH legislation
HITECH legislation is a legislative is a tool applied by the legislature to motivate medical facilities in the US to implement electronic health records (EHR) as part of their standard practice. In fact, the legislation anticipated the advantages that technology could offer to the medical industry and sought to address incidental issues that include information privacy and security protection, as well as potential legal liability over information management (Arlotto, 2010).HITECH Legislation Discussion Paper The legislation has impacted medical facilities. Firstly, it has increased the use of EHR that has eased medical information sharing and security. Secondly, it has advanced interoperability and connectivity of health information systems and technology. Thirdly, the advanced interoperability and connectivity has supported more effective and efficient health care systems, research activities with the result that medical facilities. Fourthly, the legislation has transformed models of care to enhance access. Fifthly, the legislation has presented a flexible and strong information ecosystem that aptly supports decision-making and transparency, informs reforms to payment systems and reduces redundancy. Finally, the mentioned advantages have resulted in constantly improving health care systems that accelerate and customize treatment efforts while empowering stakeholders (McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, 2018).
As a policy intervention, HITECH includes a financial incentive program that is presented as bonus payments. Incentives are also available for eligible professionals who have the capacity to increase facility responsiveness through cross-subsidized facility costs. Another incentive is the presence of fines for HIPAA non-compliance. These incentives are intended to motivate medical facilities to adopt EHR use. In seeking to access the bonus payments, medical facilities have become increasingly amenable to implementing EHR. Although the incentives have caused a positive effect (as previously discussed), the effect has been moderated by usability and interoperability, especially in the face of awareness that the incentives cover only a fraction of the total costs for adopting EHR. Overall, the incentives have speeded up the timeline for EHR adoption by influencing medical facilities to digitize their information while transitioning towards paying for value (Maki & Petterson, 2013). The increased adoption of EHR has had a positive effect on care quality. In fact, it has allowed medical facilities to better manage their threat assessment, especially with regards to monitoring and flagging patients who have a violent history/past and could threat the security of other stakeholders. This allows care to proceed with minimal interruptions thus improving quality. As such, the increased adoption of EHR as a result of HITECH related incentives has had a positive influence on care quality and safety (Davis & LaCour, 2014).
Begum et al. (2013) is a journal article that discusses the experiences of small-scale medical facilities with the use of EHR as part of their practice environment. In fact, it presents the opinions and experiences of medical personnel with regards to EHR use. Applying a survey design, the article reports that medical personnel have positive experiences with the use of EHR programs. In addition, the article noted that incentives associated with technology adoption have encouraged medical personnel to support their adoption. Besides that, it mentioned that EHR facilitated quality improvement in medical facilities (Begum et al., 2013). The article demonstrates the ability of health information technology to meet the requirements for meaningful use by encouraging medical personnel to support the adoption of EHR in medical facilities thus allowing them to securely and speedily exchange clinical patient data with other medical stakeholders who include patients, insurers and medical providers (Grain & Schaper, 2013).
References
Arlotto, P. (2010). 7 strategies for improving HITECH readiness. hfm (Healthcare Financial Management), 64(11), 90–96.
Begum, R., Smith Ryan, M., Winther, C. H., Wang, J. J., Bardach, N. S., Parsons, A. H., & … Dudley, R. A. (2013). Small practices’ experience with EHR, quality measurement, and incentives. American Journal of Managed Care, 19eSP12–8.
Davis, N. & LaCour, M. (2014). Health information technology (3rd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Grain, H. & Schaper, L. (2013). Health informatics: digital health service delivery – the future is now. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Maki, S. & Petterson, B. (2013). Using the electronic health record: in the health care provider practice (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning. HITECH Legislation Discussion Paper
