The "future" of health care in the United States, at least through 2015 or so, will be shaped in a fundamental way by the health care industry's mad dash to achieve "meaningful use" of a "certified" electronic health record system, as required by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (ARRA/HITECH) legislation. As a result of ARRA/HITECH, the focus on health care IT has never been stronger, and health care organizations are looking for ways to comply and avoid the penalties the ARRA/HITECH legislation mandates. This session will enable you to-
• Describe, based on the examples given, IT programs that have successfully enhanced EMR use in a health care facility and adapt them for another facility.
• Discuss the requirements of ARRA/HITECH and the impact they will have on patient care and the built environment in existing and new health care facilities.
• Identify what project teams need to consider, based on information presented, in order to design and build health care facilities to accommodate broadening electronic health record requirements.
• List three considerations a project team needs to address, based on case study examples, when determining how to adapt an existing facility to accommodate electronic health record requirements.