January 16, 2009

Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health Act or HITECH Act

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act or HITECH Act, is intended to advance the use of health IT by requiring the government to take a leadership role in developing nationwide electronic exchange of records by 2010. The $20 billion provision would be used to improve health IT infrastructure and to provide incentives for Medicare and Medicaid service providers for using health IT, such as electronic medical records, in their practices. By accelerating the pace of health IT adoption, the bills sponsors expect to generate savings throughout the health sector, and save the government $10 billion, by improving quality of care and care coordination and reducing medical errors and duplicative care.