The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and was signed by President Obama on Feb.17, 2009 during the depths of the recession. HITECH was intended to promote the adoption and
meaningful use of health information technology, and included requirements for implementation and expansion of Electronic Health Records (EHR's) in medical practices. The HITECH Act set meaningful use of interoperable EHR adoption in the health care system as a critical national goal. The goal was meaningful use of EHRs — that is, their use by providers to achieve significant improvements in care. A variety of timelines were outlined, with incentives for various levels of
meaningful use from 2011-2014 (the Carrot), to be followed by penalties for non-compliance (the Stick), in 2015 and thereafter, for Medicare. Meaningful Use is a complex topic and is beyond the scope of the current diary.
There are many who will blame EHR's on the ACA, but the progressive adoption of EHR's has predated the ACA by many years.
More follows the orange digital Caduceus
