Health IT Small, But Significant Part Of Health Reform

Proponents of government health information technology programs may be breathing a little easier after the Supreme Court upheld almost all of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare reform law.

Most efforts to give hospitals and doctors the latest IT tools are rooted in 2009 stimulus laws that predate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and had the law been overturned, it would likely have been no more than a speed bump for health IT. Supporters of the wide range of health IT, from digital records to electronic information exchanges, say the reforms in the ACA are critical to creating a health care system where the latest technology flourished.

"In addition to health insurance reforms, expansion of Medicaid eligibility, and the creation of health insurance exchanges, the ACA includes a number of improvements dependent on or related to health IT capabilities including, electronic health information exchange (HIE); new methods to reimburse expenses based on quality of care, operating rules and standards; and health IT workforce development," all of which would have been lost if the law had been overturned, according to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.