Department Of Health And Human Services (ARA)

In 2009, President Obama signed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act to promote meaningful use of health information technology (Jha, 2015). Before the HITECH Act was passed, only about 17% of U.S. doctors and about 9% of U.S. hospitals were using an EHR according to Jha (2015). During 2013, the percentages increased to

In general, a regulation is a rule employed in controlling, directing, or managing an activity, organization, and/or system. However, in relating to law, a regulation is a specific rule that is enforced by a regulatory agency. This is also known as administrative regulations. These regulations are created and passed to enforce statutory laws and policies. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is an agency that administers federal health and welfare programs and activities. This agency created and enforces specific regulations for the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Although, there are many other policy issues and topics that this agency has established regulations

Electronic health records can provide many benefits for providers and their patients, but the benefits depend on how they 're used. Meaningful use is the set of standards defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Incentive Programs that governs the use of electronic health records and allows eligible providers and hospitals to earn incentive payments by meeting specific criteria. The goal of meaningful use is to promote the spread of electronic health records to improve health care in the United States. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act provides the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) with the authority to establish

Medicare and Medicaid, created by the Social Security Amendment Act 1965, added Title XVIII and XIX to the Social Security Act. President Lyndon B Johnson was responsible for bringing about this change. Social Security Program started during the Great Depression of 1930s because of the stock market crash and bank failure, which wiped away the retirement savings of the Americans. Poverty rate among senior citizen exceeded 50% during this time. Social Security Act was created in an attempt to limit the five dangers of modern American Society. The Social Security Act was

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 Affordable Care Act of 2010 marks a new era in American health care. Yet in many ways, this era began more than a year earlier, with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and its Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions. Although HITECH may be viewed narrowly as legislation to

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

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.

In 2009, more than $30 billion dollars in incentives was allocated by congress for hospitals to institute meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2011 (Adler-Milstein, Bates, & Jha, 2011) (Murphy, 2010). The Meaningful Use Act is a complicated principle that is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as well as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the mission of enhancing the health and well being of all Americans. HHS is the U.S. government’s principal agency for protecting the health of Americans and is responsible for providing essential human services for all and especially for those who are least able to help themselves. The Department manages programs that cover all spectrums of activities that impact health care, patient safety, and public health. HHS, though its programs and partnerships, provide health cover to more than 100 million people through Medicare and Medicaid, promote patient safety and health care quality in health care settings, protects vulnerable individuals and communities from poor health treatment, and leverages health information technology to improve the quality of care for all (HHS, 2015). Though it’s programming and other activities, HHS works closely with state, local, and federal agencies to strengthen health care, advance scientific knowledge, advance health care and safety, and ensure transparency, accountability and effectiveness of all HHS programs. HHS’s overall mission is to help American’s live healthy lives by providing millions of children, families, and seniors with access to high quality health care, affordable child care, and by pushing the boundaries of how we diagnose and treat disease.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 or HITECH was designed to encourage the use of electronic health records or EHRs. If a website shows that the facility abides

The mission was to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology to improve patient care by evaluating utilization and maximizing efficiency as established in subsequent federal regulations. In addition, HITECH Act addresses the privacy and security concerns associated with electronic transmissions of health information with several civil and criminal enforcement provisions of the HIPAA rules.

The Department of Health and Human Services and their partners continue to strive to meet the needs of all people regardless what the socioeconomic statuses are. DHHS focus is to encourage all people to become healthy. As many believe, that being healthy starts at home, schools, community and your workplace. Studies suggest that being healthy consist of one taking good care of themselves and their health needs, eating healthy, and not smoking or drinking. With the available resources that all will be able to have access to social and economic opportunities that consist of resources. Healthiness also consist of the cleanliness of your surroundings, water, air and nature. Through various partnerships of DHHS, the continuous of

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.

Legislation such as the Health Information Technology for Economics and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act promoted meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR) to provide better patient outcomes (CDC, n.d.). Meaningful use is regulated by CMS and National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and is based on five goals including: improving quality, safety, efficiency and reducing health disparities, engage patients and families in their health, improve care coordination, improve population and public health,