HIMSS Webinar: The ARRA: The Act’s Impact on ONC, the National eHealth Collaborative, CCHIT and HITSP , prepared by Ira Morganstern, M.D.

HIMSS Webinar:  American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: The Act’s Impact on ONC, the National eHealth Collaborative, CCHIT and HITSP 

                                 Prepared by Ira Morganstern, M.D.

                                 3-11-09

Here are some pearls I gleaned:

1.  The actual amount to be spent on incetives for health information technology under the  American Recovery and Reinvestent Act of 2009 is $36 billion.  The government is counting on saving $ 16 billion which is why the net amount proposed is only $20 billion. This explains, in part, how the discrepancy between the number of active physicians and the amount of incentive money proposed will be met.

2. The  American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 calls for the "meaningful use" of Electronic Health Record software.  What does "meaningful use" mean?  It probable includes e-prescribing, integration with the laboratory, and measures of Quality of Care.  Towards these ends, ICANotes is implementing e-prescribing imminently and is looking for a partner that will cooperate in the integration of laboratory and icanotes databases. This two way integration will include the sending of lab requests from ICANotes to the laboratory and the importation of laboratory results into the patient record.

Quality of care measurement will involve the incorporation into ICANotes of outcome measurement tools, which is planned. 

3.  To get full incentive benefits a physician has to be using EHR in 2011, as we know.  How long should the user have been using in order to be considered a "meaningful user."?  Good question.  One panelist thought EHR should have been in use for 6-12 months.

4, The requirement that  every patient be in an Electronic Health Record has been  proposed for 2014,

5,  While CCHIT has not yet been officially designated the certifying body for electronic health records, there is no other agency ns sight who could perform the function and scant time to develop another such agency. 

Ira Morganstern, M.D.