Educating on Recent Nursing Informatics Policies- A Fact Sheet for Healthcare Professionals

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 empowers the Department of Health and Human Services to supervise the promotion of health information technology, key among them the safety, quality, and security of protected health information (PHI). Adler-Milstein and Jha (2017) affirm that the HITECH Act was enacted to motivate the implementation of electronic health records alongside supporting medical technology innovation in the United States. One way through which the policy has spurred motivation relates to monetary incentives being issued to providers for being able to demonstrate meaningful utilization of electronic health records.

One system implementation ramification that has arisen from the enactment of the HITECH Act revolves around improved HIPPA enforcement. HealthIT.gov. (2018).  notes that the policy has led to more rigorous enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This has been realized through the mandatory penalties being levied on intentional neglect. The penalties levied on private practices and hospitals usually cost an upward of $300,000, with uncorrected violation carrying fees as high as $2 million.  Besides, the Act also mandates all practices to notify patients in instances of data breaches related to PHI. The Act stipulates that the Department of Health and Human Services must be notified if the breach affects more than 500 patients.

For patients, one major implication accompanying the policy can be seen from the lens of electronic health record accessibility.  The policy mandates that patients, alongside authorized third parties, should be issued access to their protected health information in electronic format (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017, p.149). Within the organization I am currently working in, several policies have been implemented that ensure the safeguarding of protected health information. One of the policies requires that each member of the clinical staff should attend at least 240 hours of training provided in-house concerning preventing data breaches alongside identifying and reporting them.

References

Adler-Milstein, J., & Jha, A. K. (2017). HITECH Act drove large gains in the adoption of hospital electronic health records. Health Affairs, 36(8), 1416-1422.