Nursing Technology Discussion: HITECH Legislation

Nursing Technology Discussion: HITECH Legislation

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Please be sure to answer the questions that are underlined!!!

APA format, approximately 300-400 words, just make sure underlined questions are answered, references less than 5 years old, at least 3 references.

Discussion: HITECH Legislation

In order for organizations to receive the incentives offered through the HITECH legislation, they must be able to demonstrate that they are using the technology in meaningful ways. The following criteria for meaningful use must be evident to qualify for EHR incentives (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). The technology must:

  • Improve quality, safety, and efficiency, and reduce health disparities
  • Engage patients and families
  • Improve care coordination
  • Improve population and public health
  • Ensure adequate privacy and security protections for personal health information

For this Discussion you consider the impact of the meaningful use criteria of the HITECH legislation on the adoption of health information technology.

To prepare:

  • Review the Learning Resources on the HITECH legislation and its primary goals.
  • Reflect on the positive and negative impact this legislation has had on your organization or one with which you are familiar.
  • Consider the incentives to encourage the use of EHRs. Focus on the definition of meaningful use and how it is measured.
  • Reflect on how the incentives and meaningful use impact the quality of patient care.
  • Find an article in the Walden Library dealing with one of the criteria to qualify for meaningful use and how it has been successfully met.

BY DAY 3

Post a description of how HITECH legislation has positively or negatively impacted your organization. Address how its related incentives influence the adoption of health information technology in health care and impact the quality of patient care. Provide a summary of the article you identified and explain how it demonstrates the ability of health information technology to meet the requirements of meaningful use.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

REQUIRED READINGS

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

  • Chapter 9, “Legislative Aspects of Nursing Informatics: HITECH and HIPAA”

    This chapter explores two pieces of legislation that dramatically impact nursing informatics: the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

Arlotto, P. (2010). 7 strategies for improving HITECH readiness. hfm(Healthcare Financial Management)64(11), 90–96.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article reviews seven strategies to help prepare for the implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The central point of the article focuses on demonstrating meaningful use of electronic health records. Nursing Technology Discussion: HITECH Legislation

Begum, R., Smith Ryan, M., Winther, C. H., Wang, J. J., Bardach, N. S., Parsons, A. H., & … Adams Dudley, R. (2013). Small Practices’ Experience With EHR, Quality Measurement, and Incentives. American Journal Of Managed Care, 19eSP12–8.
This article presents a study of clinician’s attitudes toward the use of financial incentives for the implementation of electronic health records in small practices.

Brown, B. (2010). The final rules for meaningful use of EHRs. Journal of Health Care Compliance, 12(5), 49–50.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
In this article, the author poses four questions pertaining to the EHR system in the United States. In particular, the article examines Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments and the ways the meaningful use of certified EHRs will be verified.

Classen, D. C., & Bates, D. W. (2011). Finding the meaning in meaningful use. New England Journal of Medicine, 365(9), 855–858.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article details the challenges of meeting the meaningful use standards in order to receive the benefits legislated under the HITECH Act. The authors specify the requisites for achieving benefits with EHRs, the relationship between meaningful use and commercial EHRs, and the tools needed to evaluate EHRs after implementation.

Kempfert, A. E., & Reed, B. D. (2011). Health care reform in the United States: HITECH Act and HIPAA privacy, security, and enforcement Issues. FDCC Quarterly, 61(3), 240–273.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
The authors of this article examine HITECH, in addition to the impact of the privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The article details the potential negative repercussions of failing to comply with HIPAA and HITECH. Nursing Technology Discussion: HITECH Legislation

Murphy, J. (2010b). Nursing informatics. The journey to meaningful use of electronic health records. Nursing Economic$, 28(4), 283–286.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article reviews HITECH and the background leading up to its passage. The author also details the financial incentives intended to assist health care providers in purchasing and implementing HIT and EHR systems.

OPTIONAL RESOURCES

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2011). Health IT home. Retrieved from http://www.healthit.gov/

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2012). Regulations and guidance. Retrieved from http://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/health-it-rules-regulations

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.