Component 5; Unit 3: Evolution of Health IT: The HITECH Act
Description: This unit describes the background and provisions of the HITECH Act.
- Discuss the barriers to adoption of Health IT that the HITECH Act is designed to address.
- Discuss how the following ARRA/HITECH requirements relate to previous developments in health IT:
a. Certified electronic health records
b. Concept of meaningful use including e-prescribing, clinical decision support, interoperability and HIE, structured documentation of quality measures
c. Incentives to providers
d. Education of clinicians
e. Workforce development.
- Give examples of how the HITECH provisions support healthcare reform efforts.
- Discuss the overall vision for the effects of the HITECH Act.
Component 5; Unit 3; Lecture 3a comp5_unit3a_lecture_slides
Regional Extension Centers and Workforce Training (19:11): 1) Barriers to the use of Health IT to improve quality and reduce cost; 2) The HITECH vision; 3) Regional Extension Centers; 4) Workforce Development
Component 5; Unit 3; Lecture 3b comp5_unit3b_lecture_slides
Meaningful Use, Health Information Exchange and Research (28:31): 1) “Meaningful Use” of Health IT; 2) Promotion of Health Information Exchange; 3) Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects
Suggested Readings
Blumenthal D. Stimulating the adoption of health information technology. N Engl J Med. 2009; 360;15:1477-9. Available from: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/360/15/1477.pdf
Blumenthal D and Tavenner M. The “Meaningful Use” Regulation for Electronic Health Records. N Engl J Med 2010; 363:501-504. Available from: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1006114http://dashboard.healthit.gov/evaluations/data-briefs/non-federal-acute-care-hospital-ehr-adoption-2008-2015.php#figure1
Goldstein MM, Thorpe Jane H. The First Anniversary of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act: the regulatory outlook for implementation. Perspect Health Inf Manag. 2010 Sep 1;7. pii: 1c. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921301/
Henry J, Pylypchuk Y, Searcy T, Patel V. Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2015. ONC Data Brief 35. May, 2016. Available from: http://dashboard.healthit.gov/evaluations/data-briefs/non-federal-acute-care-hospital-ehr-adoption-2008-2015.php#figure1
Additional Materials
HITECH Programs. This is the official website for the Office of the National Coordinator and includes information on all the HITECH programs. Available from: http://www.healthit.gov
Martin R. HITECH An interoperetta in three acts. This is a humorous musical introduction to the HITECH Act. It also includes definitions of many of the terms connected with health IT. It was made shortly after the HITECH legislation passed but before many of rules had been finalized. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1s8fM3mMk