A Stimulus for Health Information Technology in Health Care Organizations - Essay Example

A SYNOPSIS OF HEALTH INFORMATICS A Synopsis of the Legislative Aspects of Health Informatics: ARRA and HITECH Health Informatics is a branch of learning at the junction of information science, computer science and healthcare. It deals with the means, contrivances, and schemes necessary in augmenting the attainment, storage, recovery, and utilization of data in health and biomedicine. Nursing informatics devices consist of not only computers but also theoretical principles, recognized medical jargons, and information, interaction and transmission systems.

Hence, it is fitting to have an overview of these codes that govern healthcare today.A Synopsis of the Legislative Aspects of Nursing Informatics: ARRA and HITECHThe federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 or HITECH Act, enacted February 17, 2009, is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or ARRA (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2011, p. 161). The law prevents dramatic state cuts in Medicaid, expands funding for preventive health care services and health care research, and helps the unemployed buy health insurance (Blumenthal, 2009, p. 1477). The ARRA legislation focused on Health Information or HIT which is used to describe the application of computers and technology in health care settings (Hersh, 2009).

It also allotted $19 billion for its unprecedented program to promote the adoption and use of health information technology and especially electronic health records or EHRs (Blumenthal, 2009, p. 1477). It envisions that every American will have the benefit of an EHR by 2014 as promised by President Barrack Obama (Blumenthal, 2009, p. 1477).The HITECH Act established the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology or ONC within the US Department of Health and Human Services or HHS which is headed by the National Coordinator, who is responsible for overseeing the development of a nationwide HIT infrastructure that supports the use and exchange of information to improve healthcare quality by enhancing coordination of services between and among the various healthcare providers a patient may have, fostering more appropriate healthcare decisions at the time and place of delivery of services, and preventing medical errors and advancing the delivery of patient-centered care, reduce the cost of healthcare by addressing inefficiencies, such as duplication of services within the healthcare delivery system, and by reducing the number of medical errors, improve people’s health by promoting prevention, early detection and management of chronic diseases, protect public health by adopting early detection and rapid response to infectious diseases, bioterrorism and other circumstances that could have a widespread impact on the health status of many individuals, facilitate clinical research, reduce health disparities and better secure patient health information (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2011, p. 163-164).There are significant barriers to adoption of EHR and its use: its substantial cost, the perceived lack of financial return from investing in them, the technical and logistic challenges involved in installing, maintaining and updating them, and consumers’ and physicians’ concerns about the privacy and security of electronic health information (Blumenthal, 2009, p. 1477). To be able to address the financial constraints encountered by physicians in the adoption and use of EHRs to their practice, the government allocated a fund of $17 billion as incentives (Blumenthal, 2009, p. 1478). Moreover, it threatens penalties to physicians who will not utilize the said system in their usual practice by deducting a percentage in their yearly compensation and benefits (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2011, p. 162). The full implementation of the HITECH Act in terms of physicians’ practice can also be achieved by further allocating funds for other physicians who are not yet employing the use of EHR to be more encouraged in its utilization like giving further benefits whether in remuneration or in kind.

Likewise, advertisements could also be used so that people from all walks of life would be persuaded to see a doctor who is using electronic health records highlighting that they are the ones recognized by the government and people are sure that they will get convenient access to their medical records when necessary like when filing for leave of absences at work and insurance requirements. Furthermore, it would also be better if campaigns were usually aired out so that people will be fully aware of its benefits that could help in imposing strict compliance to the use of electronic health records or EHRs so they will have their consultation with physicians who have the said system.

ReferencesBlumenthal, D. (2009). Stimulating the Adoption of Health Information Technology. New England Journal of Medicine, 360, 1477-1479.Hersh, W. (2009). A Stimulus to Define Informatics and Health Information Technology. Informatics and Decision-making, 9. Retrieved November 3, 2011 from BioMed Central database. McGonigle, D. & Mastrian, K. (2011). The Legislative Aspects of Nursing Informatics: HITECH and HIPAA. Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge. London: Jones and Bartlett Learning.