Implementation of Electronic Health Record (EHR) was mandated by the government under the Health Information Technology for the Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act (2009) that provided financial incentives for EHR implementation as well as imposed penalties for non-compliance (https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/federal-government-has-put-billions-promoting-electronic-health). Evaluate the compliance with HITECH by solo Physician Practices in 2020. Make sure to note why the different practice sizes and types have different compliance levels in the adoption of the EHR. Discuss further governmental policies and incentive programs and the penalties for non-compliance intended to assure complete compliance with HITECH in terms of effectiveness and efficacy.  

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, was signed into law on February 17, 2009 (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act: Impact on HIPAA Privacy and Security Provisions (asha.org)) to promote the adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT). The HITECH Act mandated the use of HIT by computerizing the medical record through Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation and connecting it with Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) and then the RHIOs to the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN/NHIN) for the national level health information exchange. Although the EHR implementation has progressed to a satisfactory level (Hospitals Use of Electronic Health Records Data, 2015-2017 | HealthIT.gov; https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/page/2018-12/2018-HITECH-report-to-congress.pdf ), the RHIOs and NHIN have not (https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20190807.475758/full/ ).

Evaluate three factors, one each in the financial, technical (interoperability), and administrative (data ownership/legal) areas that have impacted the adoption of health information exchange technologies at the RHIO and NwHIN/NHIN levels? Assess the government and private plans to overcome these barriers? Frame at least three recommendations for overcoming these barriers.  How would the stakeholders be affected by these plans, if implemented?

Watch this video on SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) steps – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmrGZSGK1k). Analyze the SDLC process explained in the video. How it would differ/be the same when applied to the development of Healthcare Management Information Systems (HMIS) and/or Healthcare Information Systems (HIS)? Explain which of the step(s) can you omit if your organization does not maintain internal IT staff (Hint: Feasibility Study slide), and how would you complete this step of the SDLC process without affecting the integrity of the HMIS/HIS?  Justify the cyclic nature of the SDLC process.

Develop the managerial process steps with 2-3 main action item points intended to define the specific requirements for the necessary HMIS or HIS acquisition (https://tettra.com/article/management-process/). Make sure it follows a basic process decision-making model (http://www.free-management-ebooks.com/news/decision-making-models/) to make a choice between turn-on or in-house built system considering the economic, workforce, scope of practice and application as well as managerial compliance of the final decision.