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Implementation of the Electronic Health Record
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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
This Act created legal protection for personal health information which refers to individually identifiable data and mandated the adoption of certain standard transactions for electronic data interchange.The health care industry estimates that full implementation could save up to $9 billion per year from administrative overhead.Nurses can no longer give out any information on any patient except healthcare providers. -
Deadline for Implementation of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
The healthcare industry has between 18 and 24 months to implement this Act depending on which sector of healthcare was involved. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has 18 months to devise the standards for health insurance transactions. The healthcare industry then has 24 months to implement those standards.
It is related to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the Social Security Act. -
Government Paperwork Elimination Act
This Act states that electronic records and their related electronic signatures are not to be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability because they are in electronic form. It minimizes the overhead cost of physician's offices which in turn minimizes the cost of office visits for the patient. This minimizes the amount of paperwork that must be filled out by nurses and allows for faster reimbursement for patients and providers. -
The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act
This Act states that any contract signed electronically cannot be declared invalid on the basis of an electronic signature and supports electronic records and electronic transactions. Most businesses already had a system set up for electronic signatures so there was no immediate financial burden. However when everyone began using the Electronic Signatures it greatly reduced the cost of having to keep track of paperwork. -
Deadline for Implementation of The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act
Impact on Nursing is that electronic signatures must be used to authenticate electronic data entries into the Electronic Health Record. This can be done by biometric identification such as a fingerprint. The date and time is automatically attached to the electronic signature so all entries are recorded when they are entered. This Act is related to The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act which was enacted in Texas in 2001 and the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. -
Deadline for Implementation of The Government Paperwork Elimination Act
Relationship to other initiatives – The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act and Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. -
Deadline for Implementation of The Medicare Improvements and Providers Act
Relationship to other initiatives – The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act which allows for electronic signatures. Without making electronic signatures legal, providers would not be able to e-prescribe. -
The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act
This piece of legislation included a provision for incentives for e-prescribing. From 2009 to 2012 there were positive incentives for providers to use e-prescribing. In 2012 penalties were assessed for those not e-prescribing.This law allowed providers to do e-prescribing which included Nurse Practitioners. Although the Nurse Practitioners were still limited by their scope of practice they were able to use the e-prescribing method. -
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Used to jumpstart the economy and includes provisions for health information technology in particular. $19.2 billion was given to providers and hospitals to increase the use of electronic health records. Nurses are going to need to become more computer literate and learn how to use any new computer systems implemented by providers to comply with a health information network. It is related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the HITECH Act. -
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
Provides funds and incentives to increase the use of Electronic Health Records by physicians and hospitals. Beginning in 2011 Medicare and Medicaid will provide financial incentives per eligible physician and for hospitals that utilize the Electronic Health Records. Beginning in 2015 negative incentives will be used for those who do not use information technology. -
Deadline for Implementation of The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
This will allow the sharing of useful information by health care providers. Nurses will now be able to look at information on a specific patient and see their previous medical and surgical history. Relationship to other initiatives are The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. -
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Provide affordable healthcare to all individuals which will require more staff, more supplies, and more Health Information coordination. Small physician offices may not be able to afford these systems and therefore must either go out of business or merge with a bigger group of physicians to share the cost. -
Deadline for Implementation of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The impact on nursing is yet to be determined. The issue of the electronic health records would be a benefit because the nurses would have access to all the patient’s health information, however providers may not able to afford to install the computer programs needed for the reimbursement process. Related initiatives are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
