Chapter 3
Finding Help and Oversight
In This Chapter
Making sense of healthcare legislation
Defining Meaningful Use
Getting to know state and local healthcare organizations
Standardizing EHRs
Thankfully, you don’t have to venture into the world of healthcare technology alone. A plethora of information — from federal legislation and state and local regulations to blogosphere opinions on the best EHRs for physicians — is available to help you choose an EHR. The trick, of course, is finding the most accurate and useful information. In this chapter, you get a quick course in how to find the help you need.
Checking Out Related Legislation (ARRA and the HITECH Act)
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has a wide-reaching affect on healthcare. According to the ARRA Web site (www.recovery.gov), the act increases federal funds for various programs by $224 billion and frees $275 billion for federal contracts, grants, and loans, some of which enter the healthcare sector. Additionally, a new level of corporate and government transparency requires that recovery fund recipients report how they use the money each quarter. Although governing legislation, you can think of the ARRA as a legislative body that’s divided into subgroups and committees.
All data about how recovery funds recipients spend their money are posted on www.recovery.org. How’s that for transparency?
