HITECH Act of 2009
On February 17, 2009 a $787 Billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 also known as “the Stimulus Bill,” was signed into law by the federal government of United States. Of this amount, $22 Billion and $19.2 Billion is 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.
Funds Allocation under the HITECH ACT
- $18 billion as incentives for hospitals and physicians who are “meaningful users” of EHR systems through the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement systems.
- $2 billion to the Office of the National Coordinator of United States for infrastructure necessary to allow for, and promote, the electronic exchange and use of health information for each individual in the United States; updating the Department of Health & Human Services’ technologies to allow for the electronic flow of information; integrating health IT education into the training of healthcare professionals; and, promoting interoperable clinical data repositories.
- $1 billion for renovation and repair of health centers and for the acquisition of health IT systems.
- $550 million for other things like the purchase of equipment and services including, but not limited to, health IT within Indian Health Service facilities.
- $400 million for comparative effectiveness research on how use of electronic data impacts healthcare treatments and strategies.
- $300 million to support regional and sub-national efforts towards health information exchange.
- $40 million to be used by the Social Security Administration to use EHRs to submit disability claim