The document discusses the origins and requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which provides $19.2 billion in incentives for healthcare providers to adopt electronic medical records (EMRs). The act requires EMRs to be certified and demonstrate meaningful use, though these terms are still being defined. While some hospitals have implemented basic EMR functions, full integrated systems have only been adopted by 1.5% of US hospitals. The challenges of implementing complex EMR systems that can exchange and integrate data both within and between healthcare organizations are discussed.

1. Electronic Medical Records & HITECH Lyon, Popanz  Forester May 13, 2009 An Introduction to:

3. $19.2 billion for health information technology http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMp0900665?query=TOC Part of $787 billion economic stimulus package American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act or HITECH The origin and the dollars

8. Scope: EMR Other systems: Billing and payments; HR; Hospital operations: dietary; etc. Hospitals Doctors’ Offices Clinics Support Services, e.g. Labs HITECH EMR

9. Scope: EMR & PHR EMR – electronic medical records managed by source of the data, e.g., hospital, doctor, etc. PHR – personal health records managed by the patient/consumer using Google, Microsoft, etc. HITECH EMR Hospitals Doctors’ Offices Clinics Support Services, e.g. Labs Google/Microsoft PHR Pharmacy e.g., refills Medical Devices e.g. iPhone Support Services e.g. Labs Family, etc. access

10. Scope/Value/Quality A complete accurate record that is available now is far more valuable than one that is incomplete or has errors or is “off line” The value is in the network, the number of participants, and the quality of the data These are the basic lessons of the Internet

11. Status of Implementation The Wall Street Journal identified 10 types of EMR systems and assessed their implementation in hospitals: Highest: Laboratory Results 75% Lowest: Physician’s Notes & Clinical Guidelines:15% All others: 27% to 52% Full EMR: 1.5% of US hospitals * The survey did not address the question of whether or not these systems can be integrated into a common network without significant modification or replacement http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB124104350516570503-lMyQjAxMDI5NDAxMTAwNDEzWj.html April 30, 2009 * There are about 5,000 hospitals of which about 3,000 have 100 beds or more