
162 | CHAPTER 10 Legislative Aspects of Nursing Informatics: HITECH and HIPAA
of HIT policies and standards and provides enhanced privacy and
security protections for patient information, an area of the law that
is of paramount concern in nursing informatics. Title IV of Division
B of the ARRA is considered part of the HITECH Act. It addresses
Medicare and Medicaid HIT and provides significant financial
incentives to healthcare professionals and hospitals that adopt and
engage in the “meaningful use”ofelectronic health record (EHR)
technology.
This chapter presents an overview of the HITECH Act, including
the Medicare and Medicaid HIT provisions of