The Electronic Health Record Mandate: What Is in Store for Small to Medium-Sized Dermatology Practices?

One of the many measures of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help modernize the nation’s infrastructure was the signing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was enacted on February 18, 2009. The HITECH Act provides incentives for physicians to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) that the US government believes will lead to higher quality, more efficient health care. The US government certainly has good intentions in offering meaningful incentives to stimulate interest in the adoption of EHRs, but what about physicians and other eligible providers (EPs) who will not be ready by the 2015 deadline? Well, first the carrot, then the stick.