Understanding the HITECH Act

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) statute was passed in 2009 by the Obama Administration in the United States as part of a recovery plan from the economic recession that had hit the world. The statute aimed to address the shortcomings of the HIPAA Act and improve on some issues regarding delivering healthcare to the people of the United States. The proponents of the statute aimed to improve the use and adoption of technology to deliver healthcare in the United States.

Of particular interest in this chapter is subtitle D of the HITECH Act, which focuses on the issue of privacy and the security concerns that result from using technology to disseminate healthcare services. With the increased use of technology, increased privacy and security concerns were an expected outcome. Due to this, the statute intends to address these concerns by offering guidelines that healthcare providers in the United States can...