Meaningful Use Essay

In 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) allocated approximately $19 billion to support physicians and hospitals in attaining meaningful use of health information technology (HIT). The meaningful use program is intended to facilitate providers to amass

The HITECH Act supports the concept of electronic health records - meaningful use, an effort led by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS ) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). HITECH proposes the meaningful use of interoperable electronic health records throughout the United States health care delivery system as a critical national goal. Meaningful Use is defined as the minimum U.S. government standards for using electronic health records (EHR) and for exchanging patient clinical data between healthcare providers, between healthcare providers and insurers, and between healthcare providers and patients. Its rules, known as meaningful use measures or meaningful use criteria, determine whether a healthcare provider may receive federal funds from the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program or both, in cases of "dually eligible" practitioners (EP) and eligible

In 2009, the U.S. Government passed The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (Mangalmurti, Murtagh and Mello 2060). The HITECH Act authorizes grants and incentives to promote the “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHR) by providers (2060). The effect is a high commitment to a technology-led system reform, urging a renewed national commitment to building an information infrastructure to support health care delivery, consumer health, quality measurement and improvement, public accountability, clinical and health services research, and clinical

The HITECH act was implemented by U.S congress in order to ensure meaningful adaptation of EHR technology and confirms the providers under Medicare and Medicaid will get payment through the incentives by acceptance of this technology. The main goals under the act are as follows:

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 problem list is a key part of the electronic health record. It lists the patient’s most important health problems and gives the practitioner key information to determine the best treatment plan. Accurate patient problem lists

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.

HITECH act is part of the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment) Act of 2009 designed to promote the adoption of Health information Technology (HIT) and meaningful use of the HIT. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and CMS have spent more than 25.9 billion under the HITECH act to create the HIT infrastructure and a nationwide network for Electronic Health Records (EHR). According to Washington Post, as much 36.5 billion has been spent toward incentives and EHR infrastructure.

In 2009, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed into law as a stimulus package in efforts to reverse the financial recession in the United States. Part of the legislation included, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act that incentivized hospitals and physician practices to adopt certified electronic health records (EHR) and to encourage the use of health care technology in a meaningful way (Falk, 2014). The ultimate goal of HITECH and Meaningful Use (MU) is to create a national healthcare infrastructure that is connected, develop systems to warehouse and share data, and in turn improve care and efficiencies for patients and providers (Blumenthal & Tavenner, 2010). The raid adoption

The road to patient-centered care was paved with the passing of the HITECH act, which authorized incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they use EHRs privately and securely to achieve specified improvements in care delivery. If providers do not become meaningful users of EHRs by 2015, penalties will be triggered through reduced Medicare payments. These provisions aim to create a nationwide electronic health system that is efficient and secure to improve health outcomes and lower the cost of healthcare. To accomplish these goals, the federal government allotted $19.2 billion of funding to promote the adoption and meaningful use of interoperable health information technology and electronic health records (EHRs).

With the epic changes and alterations to our current healthcare system, the Federal Government has made great strides in order to make healthcare more effective and efficient. In order to do so healthcare reforms have been enacted in order to have medical professionals and facilities use technology and informatics. Technology in the medical field helps create databases and offer medical professionals a higher level of patient care. Meaningful Use is part of a 2009 law called HITECH, which in turn is part of the American recovery and Reinvestment act . HITECH stands for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health. Meaningful use is also part of a 3 stage system, that helps medical providers and facilities

The HITECH Act incorporated many measures to boost the application of a national health IT framework that enhanced healthcare quality, reduced healthcare differences, and advanced the distribution of patient-focused medical care, among different objectives. The HITECH Act also incorporated the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs, which offered incentive payments to qualified experts and hospitals that actualized and definitively utilized HER

Electronic health records (EHR’s) have many advantages, but there are plenty of disadvantages. EHR’s were created to manage the many aspects of healthcare information. Medical professionals use them daily and most would feel lost without it. Healthcare organizations were encouraged to adopt EHR’s in 2009 due to the fact that a bill passed known as The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). “The HITECH Act outlines criteria to achieve “meaningful use” of certified electronic records. These criteria must be met in order for providers to receive financial incentives to promote adoption of EHRs as an integral part of their daily practice”, (Conrad, Hanson, Hasenau & Stocker-Schneider, 2012).