technology in the public sector

week 3: health and human services IT

Northwestern University MPPA 490

Summer 2012 - Greg Wass

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1. Affordable Care Act: Health Insurance Exchanges

The Affordable Care Act requires states to provide statewide health insurance exchanges--marketplaces that allow families to qualify themselves by income and status to determine what kind of insurance they are able to obtain at what rates. (Health insurance exchange is sometimes abbreviated HIX.)

View: www.healthcare.gov

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Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, accessed 7/5/12 at http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=125&cat=3

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Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, accessed 7/5/12 at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/quicktake_aca_medicaid.cfm

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Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, accessed 7/5/12 at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/quicktake_aca_medicaid.cfm

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2. HITECH: Health Information Exchanges

The HITECH Act (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act--part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) requires states to establish Health Information Exchanges (HIE) to provide for the exchange of patient information among doctors and hospitals. HIEs are initially funded through ARRA federal grants, but must become financially self-sustaining. States are working with hospitals and local exchanges to put HIEs in place. The Medicaid incentive plan encourages the implementation of electronic health record (EHR) systems at hospitals and doctors' offices. Key to EHR adoption and the Medicaid incentive is the "meaningful use" of EHR in a clinical setting.

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11Source: New York Department of Health, retrieved 7/5/12 from http://www.health.ny.gov/technology/projects/vision.htm

12Source: GE Healthcare, retrieved 7/5/12 from http://ehealth.gehealthcare.com/ehealth-products/

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3. Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA)

MITA is important because it presents an "architecture" for how to build Medicaid and related systems at the state level. If states (and their vendors) comply with MITA architecture, they receive a 90% federal match for system costs. The MITA concept has recently been extended into eligibility determination systems because of the large influx of newly Medicaid-eligible people under the Affordable Care Act.

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