United States Department Of The National Coordinator For Health Information Technology

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 identified three main components of meaningful use: the use of a certified EHR in a meaningful manner, electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of care, and the use of technology to submit clinical outcomes and quality measures (Heath Resources and Service Administration, n.d.). ARRA includes many measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, with the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act” being an example. The HITECH Act is an effort led by Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) in support of electronic health records and meaningful use (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC 2016). According to Galbraith (2013), the HITECH Act aims to promote the use of EHRs by providing over $27 billion in monetary incentives for health care providers that become “meaningful users”. CMS uses these core objectives to determine if a health care provider has satisfied meaningful use and is eligible to receive financial incentives (Galbraith, 2013).

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made an investment in the year 2009 to encourage the adoption and implementation of the electronic health records (EHRs)(Cite). EHRs incentive payments were authorized through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they privately and securely used EHRs for achieving improvements in care delivery by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The healthcare organizations are expected to demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs. This rule of meaningful use has been implemented to strike a balance between acknowledging the urgency of adopting EHRs for improving the healthcare system and identifying the challenges that would be put forth

(ONC) is to coordinate “national efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information … to improve health care” (Health and Human Services [HHS], n.d., website). However, sharing confidential information found in the electronic health record (EHR) for research and quality improvement potentiate legal, financial and ethical challenges.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act is part of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA) signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The HITECT Act introduced the concept of ‘meaningful use’ which incentivized the adoption of electronic health records (EHR) for the overall improvement of healthcare. This act authorized payments to qualified provider groups that meet the 'meaning use ' requirements that are paid out over five year. According to data from the National Ambulatory Medical care Survey, 57% of office based physicians’ utilized EHR system as of 2011 and 52% of this physician plan to apply for the meaningful use incentives in same year. This is a 11% increase from the year before.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law in 2009, includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act known as the HITECH Act. The act defined specific requirements for receiving financial incentives for ‘meaningful use’ of the electronic health record (EHR). Hospitals and providers could begin implementation of the requirements in 2011 to receive the incentives by meeting specific objectives, after 2015 failure to meet meaningful use requirements will result in penalties. Meaningful use is divided into 3 stages and each stage has objectives and requirements specific to that stage. Hospitals and providers must meet requirements for Stage 1 of meaningful use for two years before

The American health care system is in the midst of a paradigm shift as it transitions away from a paper documentation system towards a total electronic world. The electronic health record is revolutionizing the way health care practitioners, organizations and patients utilize patient information resulting in more efficient and accurate care, which implies better patient outcomes. In an effort to expedite the adoption of the electronic medical record, the United States government implemented an act entitled Meaningful Use which outlines three stages required by all health care systems and providers. The United States government provided financial incentives to ensure that these stages were met. It is imperative that the health care leaders are familiar with the requirements of Meaningful Use and create a timeline to ensure meeting all expectations. This paper will address the history of meaningful use implementation, meaningful use goals, and careful considerations for the health care leaders.

Over the previous eight years, there has been a significant investment of private and public funds to upsurge the adoption of Electronic health records (EHRs) across the nation. The extensive adoption and “meaningful use” of electronic health records is a national priority. EHRs come in various forms and can be utilized in distinct organizations, as interoperating systems in allied health care units, on a regional level, or nationwide. The benefit of utilizing an EHR depends heavily on provider’s uptake on technology. Benefits related to electronic health records are numerous and may have clinical, organizational and societal outcomes. However, challenges in implementing electronic health records has attained some attention, the implementation

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), is legislation aimed at the adoption and “meaningful use” of health information technology. CMS was authorized to establish incentive programs for eligible Medicare and Medicaid providers who adopt, implement, upgrade, or “meaningfully use” certified electronic health records (EHR). The term “meaningful use” is an acknowledgement that improved health care is not the product of technology but a method to exchange and use health information to support clinical decisions at the point of care.

To provide a positive impact on the lives of patients (Fuchs, 2014) based on the care that was rendered to them, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented an incentive program in the year of 2011 and provided bonuses to eligible providers (EP) that displayed a meaningful aspect by way of technology, by using electronic health records (EHR). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Meaningful Use program and an analysis of the implications for nurses. Also, in this paper additional recommendations for Meaningful Use will be discussed.

The ARRA includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which pursues to improve American Healthcare and patient care through an extraordinary investment in Healthcare IT (HIT). The requirements of the HITECH Act are precisely designed to work jointly to provide the necessary assistance and technical operation to providers, enable grammatical relation and organization within and among states, establish connectivity in case of emergencies, and see to it the workforce is properly trained and equipped to be meaningful users of certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs). These computer software products are designed collaboratively to intensify the footing for every American to profit from an electronic health record (EHR) as part of a modernized, interrelated, and vastly improved grouping of care delivery.

This article describes The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act’s (HITECH) “meaningful use” objective to create a nationwide system of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in order to improve patient safety, quality of care, privacy and security. The authors point out that during the first two years of an EHR implementation, clinicians and hospitals must meet certain requirements in order to qualify for federally funded incentive payments totaling up to $107,750 per clinician. This incentive is meant to ease the financial challenges smaller practices might face as the United States works toward a more technically collaborative information care system, EHRs promise to provide.

Use of EHR (electronic health records) in United States has increased in past years and have gained widespread use in the country. The use of EHR-Electronic Health Records or EMR-Electronic Medical Records and the systems that support them have gained standardized collection of health information and data for patient and healthcare providers. Because of these technologies, healthcare providers now have information about their patients at their fingertips, which has led to better and more accurate care. There are debates on using EHR. According to Mushtaq (2015), one of the most common debate is the use of EHR compliance and the value of these technologies that surround them (Mushtaq, 2015). Providers wonder if EHR use is useful and what is to be gained for the HCP-Healthcare provider. In regards to such debates and ongoing conversations, it is important to understand the definition of meaningful use and whether these technologies have resulted in meaningful use. According to Burchell (2016), The government developed the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009, which incorporates the meaningful use program (Burchell, 2016). The program has goals that tell us how to use the meaningful use with EMR or EHR. It helps HCP and organizations alike attain, use and keep goals like patient and clinical outcomes, individual patient autonomy, and increased transparency for providers. When these goals are attained and kept it will greatly

With the advent of electronic health records (EHR’s) and The American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, electronic health records have become main stream and a requirement for healthcare providers who treat Medicaid and Medicare patients. An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart (Health IT, n.d.). EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. A portion of ARRA provides reimbursements to providers that have EHR’s that are certified for meaningful use. Certified EHR’s meet meaningful use requirements by meeting the government the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)

In February of 2009, the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA) was passed to help the nation modernize its infrastructure. The “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act” was then passed to address the barriers to the adoption of the electronic health record by healthcare organizations (Sandefer, Marc, & Kleeburg, 2015). There are many barriers for healthcare organizations to adopt the electronic health record. These include: “substantial cost, the perceived lack of financial return from investing in them, the technical and logistic challenges involved in installing,

Implementing to electronic medical records has many benefits such as reducing medical record errors, accuracy, having medical record access immediately, reducing medication errors and improving patient care. Monetary incentives are given to providers who demonstrate meaningful use. For those who do not, they face reduction in reimbursement amounts. “In 2017, reduction in reimbursement is 3%.” (National Center for Medical Records, n.d.)