HITECH Act

On February 17, 2009 a $787 Billion, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 aka “the Stimulus Bill,” was signed into law by the federal government. Included in this law is $19.2 Billion which was intended to be used to increase the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) by physicians and hospitals; this portion of the bill is called, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) under Title XIII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) created the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee, HIT Standard Committee, and process for adoption of recommendations for standards and policies from these committees, all of which is overseen by the Office of the National  Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).

The HITECH Act is a section of the ARRA. It specifically outlines how the federal stimulus money will be used to advance the design, development, and operation of a nationwide health information exchange infrastructure that promotes the electronic use and exchange of information.

It also established provisions for workforce investments, a HIT Extension Program, HIT Research Center, and HIT Regional Extension Centers (RECs) to provide technical assistance on best practices, and to assist health care providers to adopt, implement, and effectively use certified electronic health records (EHRs). This  legislation established state grants to promote HIT and assist health care providers in HIT adoption and implementation. Part IV of this legislation details Medicare and Medicaid incentives for HIT adoption for health care professionals, prospective payment system (PPS) hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs).

On July 13, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its final rule on the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs under Medicare and Medicaid, which were created by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH).

Beginning in 2011, the EHR Incentive Programs provide Medicare and Medicaid financial incentives for providers that engage in “meaningful use” of “certified EHR technology” and, beginning in 2015, impose Medicare payment penalties on providers that do not.

The final rules were issued on July 13, 2010 and are available at access.gov.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed in February, 2009 allows CMS to provide financial incentives to eligible professionals for reaching “meaningful use” of EHRs.  The HiTECH Act created the Regional Extension Center Program along with other programs to support health IT adoption.

The HITECH Act sets up five areas which are intended to help increase the adoption of EHR products and subsequently improve health outcomes.
While many reform bill provisions won’t take hold for years, the HITECH Act and its Meaningful Use provision is rapidly reshaping the funding and implementation for electronic health record adoption in the U.S.
According to the Act, physicians are eligible to receive up to $44,000 in total incentives per physician from Medicare for “Meaningful Use” of a certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) starting this year (2011). (Note: Physicians reimbursed by Medicaid can receive up to approximately $63,750 starting in 2011 based on state-defined guidelines.) After releasing preliminary requirements at the end of 2009 and fielding more than 2,000 comments, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their 864-page final rule on July 13, 2010. Now that 2011 is underway, many EHR vendors have received Stage 1 Meaningful Use certification, the first Medicaid checks are going out to doctors, and physicians are enrolling for Medicare payments.

While many reform bill provisions won’t take hold for years, the HITECH Act and its Meaningful Use provision is rapidly reshaping the funding and implementation for electronic health record adoption in the U.S.

Hi Tech programs that are sponsored by the ONC include:

• Health Information Exchange Challenge Grant Program: A grant program to encourage breakthrough innovations for health information exchange that can be leveraged widely to support nationwide health information exchange and interoperability.