The document discusses the HITECH Act and Meaningful Use mandates, which aim to increase adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) through financial incentives. While EHRs can improve healthcare, their implementation has been challenging and costly. The HITECH Act provides funds to organizations that meet requirements for meaningful use of EHRs. However, this has led to rapid and overwhelming adoption of technologies. The document debates whether these mandates effectively drive healthcare IT change or result in poor implementations that impact patient safety, ethics, and quality of care.

1. Policy Initiatives Impacting Informatics And Health Care
Discussion: HITECH and Meaningful Use—A Real-World Debate Though electronic health
records (EHRs) may provide an abundance of information at faster speeds than paper-
based records ever could, the cost and challenges related to implementation have prevented
many organizations from adopting EHRs. The Health Information Technology for Economic
and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act aims to increase the adoption rate by providing financial
incentives for health care organizations that demonstrate “meaningful use” of EHRs. In
order to receive these funds, settings must meet a specific set of requirements identified by
the HITECH legislation.The adoption of an EHR can often be a frenzied process because of
the incentives provided by the HITECH Act. In addition, the saturation of the technology
market provides settings with an overwhelming amount of options from which to choose.In
this Discussion, you debate the effectiveness of the HITECH Act and Meaningful Use
mandates. To prepare:· Consider the ways HITECH and Meaningful Use mandates have
impacted a health care setting with which you are familiar. · Conduct research in the
Walden Library and through credible nursing organizations to assess how the nursing
informatics community is addressing these mandates. · Create a list that documents the
pros and cons that mandates such as these have on health care settings. Reflect upon your
list, and determine whether you believe these mandates are beneficial or harmful to health
care organizations and nursing practice. By Day 3Post a brief scholarly commentary that
describes your stance on issues related to HITECH and meaningful use. Include in your
commentary your personal beliefs on the issue, your experiences in a health care
organization, and/or the pros and cons surrounding these initiatives. Select at least one of
the following to underscore your stance:· Mandating change. Do the HITECH Act and
Meaningful Use mandates help to drive and equalize change across all health care settings,
or do they lead to rapid and sloppy implementations? · The benefits or ramifications that
stem from the use of incentives and disincentives. · The influence of across-the-board
mandates on patient safety, ethics, and quality of care. (I select this one) · The allocation of
funds specifically earmarked for HITECH and Meaningful Use. Is it worth it or wasted?