The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, abbreviated the HITECH Act, was enacted under Title XIII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (). Under the HITECH Act, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. HHS) resolved to spend $25.9 billion to promote and expand the adoption of health information technology.HHS.gov/Recovery Recovery Act-Funded Programs Health Information Technology (IT) section , also known as HIT The Washington Post reported the inclusion of "as much as $36.5 billion in spending to create a nationwide network of electronic health records.""The Machinery Behind Health-Care Reform", The Washington Post, May 16, 2009 At the time it was enacted, it was considered "the most important piece of health care legislation to be passed in the last 20 to 30 years"Contractors hungry for stimulus , July 24, 2009 and the "foundation for health care reform."Why and How Secretary Sebelius Should Avoid a Network Monopoly, ADRIAN GROPPER MD, Mar 5, 2009
The former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Farzad Mostashari, has explained: "You need information to be able to do population health management. You can serve an individual quite well; you can deliver excellent customer service if you wait for someone to walk through the door and then you go and pull their chart. What you can't do with paper charts is ask the question, 'Who didn't walk in the door?'"ONC Chief: Meaningful Use of Meaningful Use Measures , July 23, 2012
Implementation and effects In the years since the law was passed, electronic health records in the United States have become more common, but it is unclear how much of this was caused by the law. The meaningful use incentives in the law only applied to certain types of hospitals. However, a 2017 study suggests that these hospitals did adopt electronic health records more aggressively.
Subtitle A – Promotion of Health Information Technology
Part 1 – Improving Health Care Quality, Safety, and Efficiency
Electronic health records (EHR) The HITECH Act set meaningful use of interoperable EHR adoption in the US healthcare system as a critical national goal and incentivized EHR adoption. The "goal is not adoption alone but 'meaningful use' of EHRs—that is, their use by providers to achieve significant improvements in care."
Title IV of the act promises maximum incentive payments for Medicaid to those who adopt and use "certified EHRs" of $63,750 over 6 years beginning in 2011. Eligible professionals must begin receiving payments by 2016 to qualify for the program. For Medicare, the maximum payments are $44,000 over 5 years. Doctors who do not adopt an EHR by 2015 will be penalized 1% of Medicare payments, increasing to 3% over 3 years. The HITECH Act (ARRA) requires doctors to show "meaningful use" of an EHR system to receive the EHR stimulus money. As of June 2010, there are no penalty provisions for Medicaid.Habib JL. EHRs, meaningful use, and a model EMR. Drug Benefit Trends. May 2010;22(4):99-101.
Health information exchange (HIE) has emerged as a core capability for hospitals and physicians to achieve "meaningful use" and receive stimulus funding. Starting in 2015, hospitals and doctors will be subject to financial penalties under Medicare if they are not using electronic health records.Pear, Robert. "Warnings Over Privacy of U.S. Health Network." New York Times, February 18, 2007.
Meaningful use The main components of meaningful use are: The use of a certified EHR in a meaningful manner, such as e-prescribing. The use of certified EHR technology for electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of health care. The use of certified EHR technology to submit clinical quality and other measures. In other words, providers need to demonstrate their use of certified EHR technology in ways that can be measured significantly in quality and in quantity.
The meaningful use of EHRs intended by the US government incentives is categorized as follows: Improve care coordination Reduce healthcare disparities Engage patients and their families Improve population and public health Ensure adequate privacy and security
The Obama Administration's Health IT program intended to use federal investments to stimulate the market of electronic health records through the use of: Incentives: to providers who use IT Strict and open standards: To ensure users and sellers of EHRs work towards the same goal Certification of software: To provide assurance that the EHRs meet basic quality, safety, and efficiency standards
The detailed definition of "meaningful use" was rolled out in 3 stages. Details of each stage were hotly debated by various groups. Stage 1 was finalized in July 2010, Stage 2 in August 2012, and Stage 3 in October 2015.
Meaningful use Stage 1 The first steps in achieving meaningful use are to have a certified EHR and to be able to demonstrate that it is being used to meet the requirements. Stage 1 contains 25 objectives/measures for Eligible Providers (EPs) and 24 objectives/measures for eligible hospitals. The objectives/measures have been divided into a core set and menu set. EPs and eligible hospitals must meet all objectives/measures in the core set (15 for EPs and 14 for eligible hospitals). EPs must meet 5 of the 10 menu-set items during Stage 1, one of which must be a public health objective.See subsection (e),
Full list of the Core Requirements and a full list of the Menu Requirements:
Core Requirements: Use computerized order entry for medication orders. Implement drug-drug, drug-allergy checks. Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically. Record demographics. Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses. Maintain active medication list. Maintain active medication allergy list. Record and chart changes in vital signs. Record smoking status for patients 13 years old or older. Implement one clinical decision support rule. Report ambulatory quality measures to CMS or the States. Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information upon request. Provide clinical summaries to patients for each office visit. Capability to exchange key clinical information electronically among providers and patient-authorized entities. Protect electronic health information (privacy & security).
Menu Requirements: Implement drug-formulary checks. Incorporate clinical lab test results into certified EHR as structured data. Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, and outreach. Send reminders to patients per patient preference for preventive/follow-up care Provide patients with timely electronic access to their health information (including lab results, problem list, medication lists, allergies). Use a certified EHR to identify patient-specific education resources and provide them to patients if appropriate. Perform medication reconciliation as relevant. Provide summary care record for transitions in care or referrals. Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries and actual submission. Capability to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and actual transmission.
To receive federal incentive money, CMS requires participants in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program to "attest" that during a 90-day reporting period, they used a certified EHR and met Stage 1 criteria for meaningful use objectives and clinical quality measures. For the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, providers follow a similar process using their state's attestation system.
In 2017, the government for the first time charged an EHR vendor with falsely representing to customers and the government that its EHR system met the requirements for meaningful use. eClinicalWorks agreed to pay $155 million to settle government charges and a "qui tam" lawsuit brought by a whistleblower who implemented eClinicalWorks' system at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York City. The government also alleged that eClinicalWorks paid kickbacks for referrals. The government also reached separate settlement agreements with three eClinicalWorks employees to pay the government a total of $80,000 to settle civil allegations.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HIT) The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is established within the Department of Health and Human Services. The National Coordinator is appointed by the Secretary and reports directly to the Secretary.
The National Coordinator is responsible for the development of the Nationwide Health Information Network.H.R. 1 Subtitle A, Sec. 3001. "The National Coordinator is responsible for the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure."
HIT Policy Committee The HIT Policy Committee recommends a policy framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that permits the electronic exchange and use of health information.H.R. 1 Subtitle A, Sec. 3002.
HIT Standards Committee The HIT Standards Committee recommends to the National Coordinator standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria. The Standards Committee also harmonizes, pilot tests, and ensures consistency with the Social Security Act.
Part 2 – Application and Use of Adopted Health Information Technology Standards; Reports
Subtitle B – Testing of Health Information Technology
Subtitle B of the HITECH Act established a framework for the testing and certification of health information technology used in the United States healthcare system. The provisions were intended to support the adoption of interoperable electronic health records (EHRs) by ensuring that certified systems met standardized functional, security, and interoperability requirements.
Under the HITECH Act, ONC developed the ONC Health IT Certification Program, which established certification criteria for EHR technology used in federal incentive programs. Healthcare providers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs were generally required to use certified EHR technology in order to qualify for incentive payments associated with meaningful use.
The certification framework included testing for capabilities such as electronic prescribing, clinical quality measure reporting, privacy and security controls, and health information exchange using standardized formats and protocols. Accredited Testing Laboratories (ATLs) and Authorized Certification Bodies (ACBs) were approved by ONC to perform testing and certification activities.
Over time, certification requirements expanded to include interoperability standards such as the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard and application programming interfaces (APIs) intended to support patient access and data exchange.
Critics of the certification program argued that some certified EHR systems remained difficult to use and did not consistently achieve practical interoperability despite meeting formal certification requirements. Others argued that the testing and certification process helped establish a national baseline for EHR functionality and accelerated the digitization of healthcare records in the United States.
Subtitle C – Grants and Loans Funding
Subtitle D – Privacy
Part 1 – Improved Privacy Provisions and Security Provisions