Reference no: EM133570082

Question: Describe the relationship between HIPAA and the HITECH Act and include how HIPAA and the HITECH Act affect electronic health record (EHR), emerging technologies, and health technology advancements? : Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) A strong relationship between HIPAA and HITECH began with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009. The HITECH Act of 2009 expanded the HIPAA encryption compliance requirement set, requiring the disclosure of data breaches of unencrypted personal health records and increasing the potential legal liability for non-compliance. The goal is to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare provided in a HIPAA-compliant manner (Alder, 2023). HITECH has created great advancements in health information technology. Its Meaningful Use program successfully encouraged adoption of EHRs with significant increases in the use of IT throughout the healthcare industry, moving much of the traditional patient data from a paper record to a digitized format. Proposed modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule updated the individual right of access, to include electronic information. HIPAA and HITECH have incentivized an environment where individuals should have easy access to their medical records. By encouraging widespread adoption of EHRs,