On MU Critics, HITECH, And Vested Interests

This being peak political season, it seems appropriate, given the opportunity, to pull the curtain back on how politics, for better or worse, often works. To understand the issue at hand, we need to look back at one of the provisions of the HITECH Act.  In particular, we’re talking about the creation and funding of the Regional Extension Centers (RECs) that were intended to give technical support to providers making the move to EHRs.

Back in July, the RECs got together and formed the Association of Regional Centers of Health Information Technology (ARCH-IT), the purpose of which is to represent and provide assistance to the RECs, as well as, according to the group’s president, “encourage Congress to provide additional money to the RECs after their funding runs out in 2013.”