Public Health Reform: The Affordable

Public Health Reform: The Affordable Health Care Act

The objective of this study is to review a portion of the Affordable Care Act and present the strengths and weaknesses of the plan as well as make suggestions for plan improvement. For this purpose, this study will review the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHS) and the rules of meaningful use. The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, enacted in March 2010 are focused on providing Americans with "broader access to health insurance coverage and affordable, high-quality health care." (infocus, 2011, p.1)

Electronic Health Records Certification and Meaningful Use

It is reported that the Standards and Certification Criteria Final Rule " represents the first step in an incremental approach to adopting standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria to enhance the interoperability, functionality, utility, and security of health it and to support its meaningful use. The certification criteria adopted in this initial set establish the required capabilities and related standards and implementation specifications that certified EHR technology will need to include in order to, at a minimum, support the achievement of meaningful use Stage 1 (beginning in 2011) by eligible professionals and eligible hospitals under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs." (Health it.gov, 2013, p.1)

Testing and Certification

The Federal Register (2010) Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that a final rule was published June 24, 2010 that established a temporary certification program in which the National Coordinator would provide authority to organizations for testing and certification of complete EHRs and HER Modules and for plans to issue a separate final rule to establish a permanent certification program that would replace the temporary one. This final rule is for the purpose of ensuring that "the definition of meaningful use of certified EHR technology does not require EPs, hospitals, and CAHs to perform functions for which standards have not been recognized or established." (Federal Register, 2010)

Incentive Payments