Healthcare IT has been slowly moving towards collaborative technologies and the digitizing of Electronic Health Records (EHR). The stimulus spending of the Obama Administration acts as metaphorical adrenaline to the interoperability efforts of the healthcare industry:
“President Obama made the rapid establishment of a national e-health information system a clear priority, and Congress reinforced that goal through passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This objective is central to the creation of a secure interoperable nationwide health system that will advance the public's interest in health and improve the quality, safety, efficiency and accessibility of healthcare for all Americans.”
-National eHealth Collaborative Statement regarding the call for nominations to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) IT Standards Committee.
The McLean Report research note “Stimulus Implications: ARRA, HIPAA, and their Importance to Patient Privacy” investigated the impact of the ARRA bill on compliance, security, and privacy issues covered by the HIPAA act. Now, the goal is to assist managers in implementing change in three key areas of healthcare IT.