Health Information

Implementation Briefs

Release of Medicare Data for Performance Measurement

Categories: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Health Care Quality and Delivery System Reform, Health Information, Implementation Update, Medicare

Posted on July 6, 2011

Health policy experts and lawmakers believe that measuring and publicly reporting information about the performance of physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers is critical to improving health care quality and controlling costs. Advancing health information access and transparency is a goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which includes a number of provisions to incentivize quality measurement and reporting and to enable more informed consumer decision-making.

Health Information Privacy and Security

Categories: Health Information

Posted on December 13, 2010

The health reform law makes no major revisions to legislation enacted in 2009 to strengthen the standards for health information privacy and security. However, because protection of individuals’ interests in the privacy and security of their health information is foundational to the implementation of many aspects of health reform, this entry summarizes the key provisions of the 2009 law and describes the process of implementation as well as activities to date.

Health Information Technology – Adoption Incentives

Categories: Health Care Quality and Delivery System Reform, Health Information

Posted on May 3, 2010

The health reform law makes no major revisions to provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to move the nation toward a national health information policy and create incentives for the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT). However, because the adoption and use of HIT is foundational to the implementation of many aspects of health reform, this entry summarizes the key provisions of the 2009 law.