There are a lot of aspects of the HITECH act that don’t get much attention. Sure, the majority of the spending is the EHR incentive money and meaningful use. So, we should focus on what’s happening with that money. However, much less attention gets paid to the other parts of the HITECH act since it’s only a few hundred million dollars (yes, I laughed when I typed that).
I do find it ironic that the “beacon” communities part of the HITECH act haven’t gotten much exposure at all. The whole idea of a beacon is to be seen by everyone, no? I’m sure each beacon community has had to submit some sort of lengthy reporting to ONC about their beacon community. I’m all about government holding people accountable for the money that they spend, but wouldn’t it be better if the beacon communities had to become true beacons in healthcare?
This rant comes on the heels of me watching this video from the Colorado Beacon Consortium. The video is professionally done and does a good job trying to capture the provider viewpoint of what they’re doing. It’s a little dry to watch, but really tries to show how the physicians and patients have benefited from technology.
Have you seen other examples of what the beacon communities are doing? I’d love to see more.
