Health Information Technology ( Hit )

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the electronic health record mandate. Who started it and when? I will discuss the goals of the mandate. I will discussion will how the Affordable Care Act ties into the mandate of Electronic Health Record. It will describe my own facility’s EHR and what steps are been taken to implement it. I will describe the term “meaningful use,” and it will discuss possible threats to patient confidentiality and the what’s being done by my facility to prevent Health Information and Portability Accountability Act or HIPAA violations.

Regulation placed upon the healthcare system only seek to improve safety and security of the patients we care for. The enactment of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and the enactment of Meaningful Use Act the United States government has set strict regulations on the security of health information and has allotted for stricter penalties for non-compliance. The advancement of electronic health record (EHR) systems has brought greater fluidity and compliance with healthcare but has also brought greater security risk of protected information. In order to ensure compliance with government standards organizations must adapt

Prior to the federal mandate of EHR, research continued to show the fallacies of the healthcare system like the report published from the Institute of medicine, stating that “medical errors are the 8th leading cause of deaths in the U.S. and cost approximately forty billion dollars a year” (Overview, 2012). This was one of many indicators that healthcare needed to be reformed and in 2009, the president signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or HITECH Act, which mandated that all healthcare providers must comply and begin to transition to electronic medical records (EMR) and demonstrate “meaningful use.” This act set up a timeline, which established that practices and hospitals needed to be up and running with EMR in order to continue receiving reimbursements from federal programs like Medicaid and Medicare.

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

As a result, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was enacted by the federal government in 2009 (Blumenthal, 2010). This act was to improve quality, safety, and efficiency while enhancing patient privacy

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.

The goal in healthcare today is to achieve better patient outcomes. Technology is changing daily that affects how patient care is provided. As the world around us continues to move into a more advanced technology based healthcare system incentives are offered to qualifying healthcare entities, provided they are utilizing approved health information technology (IT) to comply with standards set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) (Jones, Rudin, Perry, & Shekelle, 2014). Standards such as meaningful use help ensure with the use of electronic health records (EHR) that patients are receiving quality care (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.). This paper will define and discuss the importance and implications of meaningful use relating to healthcare. Several key points will be discussed including an overview of meaningful use, analysis, further recommendations and a conclusion.

According to resources and information, Health Information Technology needs to contin-ually be re-evaluated as to support organizations in the event of, or to deter, medical malpractice lawsuits. Medical malpractice lawsuits can be an expensive, long-term, and a defeating process for all parties. Unfortunately, healthcare providers have to continue to carry malpractice insur-ance, as these lawsuits can be costly not

Information technology and technology exchange has become a daily routine this day in age. The majority of the world communicates through email, text messages, video calls or over the phone for various reasons. In the health care field health information was documented, stored, reviewed and shared through hand written charts and kept in files. Since the 1980’s computer technology was beginning to be a known device, until the late 90’s is when health information technology began to evolve. Many people are unaware of health information technology (HIT), what it is or how it can positively or negatively affect them. The government should continue to contribute more attention to the development of HIT also on making

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is disseminating that health information technology facilitates significant advancements in healthcare quality and safety compared to paper records. However, health information technology can only achieve its fullest potential if risks linked with its use are recognized, if there is a coordinated effort to mitigate those risks, and if it is use to make care safer. (p. 1)

Health Information Technology (HIT) is associated with development, design, application, and maintenance of the information systems in the health care industry. HIT offers a variety of health care information tools and their purpose is to reduce human errors while improving the quality and efficiency in order to provide the best customer service possible. HIT professional’s focus their attention on the technical side of controlling the health information, and with the help by having information technology background, they utilize software and hardware and make sure the information is stored safely and securely for those who needs them.

Health information technology (HIT), also known as eHealth or health informatics, is defined as the use of technology to efficiently store, exchange, and retain information in healthcare in order to improve healthcare delivery, decrease financial costs and burdens on the healthcare system, and improve patient outcomes (Shekelle et al., 2006). HIT from a consumer perspective is meant to meet the growing demand for an increase in patient autonomy and control over one’s own health (Eysenbach & Diepgen, 2001). Certain HITs have been developed and utilized to increase the efficiency of the storage and exchange of patient medical data and to facilitate effective communication and sharing of information between a patient and their provider

The field of Health Information Technology (HIT) came into light with the mandatory installation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) as part of the HITECH act. HIT is defined as “the overarching term applied to various information and communication technologies used to collect, transmit, display, or store patient data” [Add reference ‘Defn

Great minds think alike, unfortunately no two are the same? It would be beneficial for all to put our minds to the inevitable changes that the future holds, although change is difficult for most people. The world is changing into a process that no one imagines, yet people want to achieve the finest for an inexpensive cost.