Neumeier Harold, Berner Eta S, Burke Darrell E, Azuero Andres
Author Affiliations: Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia (Dr Neumeier); and University of Alabama at Birmingham (Drs Berner, Burke, and Azuero).
Health Care Manag (Frederick). 2015 Apr-Jun;34(2):157-65. doi: 10.1097/HCM.0000000000000055.
Federal policies have a significant effect on how businesses spend money. The 2009 HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) authorized incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they use certified electronic health records privately and securely to achieve specified improvements in care delivery. Federal incentive payments were offered in 2011 for hospitals that had satisfied "meaningful use" criteria. A longitudinal study of nonfederal hospital information technology (IT) budgets (N = 493) during the years 2009 to 2011 found increases in the percentage of hospital annual operating budgets allocated to IT in the years leading up to these federal incentives. This increase was most pronounced among hospitals receiving high proportions of their reimbursements from Medicaid, followed by hospitals receiving high proportions of their reimbursements from Medicare, possibly indicating a budget shift during this period to more IT spending to achieve meaningful-use policy guidelines.
联邦政策对企业的资金支出方式有重大影响。2009年的《健康信息技术经济与临床健康法案》（HITECH）授权，当临床医生和医院私下且安全地使用经认证的电子健康记录以实现医疗服务的特定改善时，通过医疗保险和医疗补助向他们提供激励性支付。2011年，向满足“有意义使用”标准的医院提供了联邦激励性支付。一项对2009年至2011年期间非联邦医院信息技术（IT）预算（N = 493）的纵向研究发现，在这些联邦激励措施出台前的几年里，医院年度运营预算中分配给IT的百分比有所增加。这种增长在从医疗补助获得高比例报销的医院中最为明显，其次是从医疗保险获得高比例报销的医院，这可能表明在此期间预算转向更多的IT支出，以符合有意义使用政策指南。
