The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the HITECH Act continue to be rolled out

Like so many others, I wasn't about to read the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) or the details of the HITECH Act. Nor was I going to pay much attention to the political blather about 'Obamacare' being pushed by biased commentators or politicians over the airwaves. I have simply been waiting to actually see how it would roll out and impact me and my family.

Well, it's rolling out and starting to look pretty good. Like you, I now know that Health Information Exchanges (HIX) seem to be a key component of the law. As I understand it, the health exchange is kind of like a stock exchange, a banking exchange, or a commodities exchange. It seems very 'American' – very much in line with our 'free market' system. Something Republicans would tend to support under normal circumstances.

Coupled with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the HITECH Act, which is all about introducing much needed information technologies (IT) into the healthcare sector – much like we did in the financial sector several decades ago.  That led to online banking, ATM machines, and a whole new way of doing business.  It revolutionized commerce in America and around the world.

Similarly, the HITECH Act is resulting in the development and widespread deployment of electronic health record (EHR) systems, personal health records (PHR), health information exchange (HIE) networks, Telehealth, mobile health (mHealth), and much more.  The introduction of these new and innovative health IT solutions are going to radically change and improve the way the healthcare sector works in the our country.

The ACA and the HITECH Act are truly going to revolutionize the healthcare system over the coming decades. Expect more transparency, lower costs, improved quality of care, operational efficiencies, major advances in research, innovative new healthcare solutions, and many other unanticipated impacts and improvements to the current system – an existing system that was slowly bankrupting our country.

Kudos to those who have fought for decades to bring about desperately needed changes. Kudos to those who wouldn't accept the status quo and pushed us kicking and screaming into the future – despite the best efforts of those mired in the past who didn't want to see things change.  Kudos for standing up to those who would even go so far as to shut down the government and destroy the economy to get their way – even though they had no plans of their own to improve the country's healthcare system.

Like so many other fellow citizens, I continue to watch how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) rolls out and support those leaders who will work to fix or change those parts of the law and new healthcare system that may need to be improved over time.  I look forward to seeing our government leaders re-learning how to collaborate, work together, and seek more 'open' solutions that will help America continue to change and adapt to the future – to the new Information Age of the 21st century.

We can do better!