HITECH Legislation

What is the HITECH legislation and what is its purpose?

On February 17, 2009, the United States Congress and the Obama administration enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to stimulate the nation’s economy. Within the ARRA legislation, an economic stimulus package known as the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act was dedicated to promoting the adoption and use of healthcare information technologies, including electronic health records (EHR).

The intent of the HITECH Act is to help providers overcome some of the financial, technical, security, and logistical challenges associated with adopting health information technologies (HIT) and stimulate development of a data-driven framework for improving clinical outcomes. The ultimate goals of the new infrastructure are to improve the quality of care, cultivate healthy populations, and create efficiencies in healthcare delivery.^1,2,3,4

Financial funding and incentives for the HITECH Act are administered through Medicare and state Medicaid programs to enable coordination, interconnectedness and security of private healthcare information among providers.⁵ A substantial investment, $19 billion, has been authorized by the federal government to provide incentives for healthcare providers to adopt and use HIT in a way that is meaningful.^6,7

This AVIGA™ website addresses only a limited amount of the information contained in the HITECH Act⁸ and the information presented here focuses on EHRs. More complete information on the HITECH Act is available through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC-HIT) website⁹, and additional information on the EHR incentive plans can be found on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website.¹⁰

To view the CMS’s EHR Incentive Program Final Rule document in its entirety, please access it through the link provided: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-17207.pdf.

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