What will ARRA and HITECH Mean for Health Care?

The government health care reforms are intended, among other things, to increase the use of information technology to improve patient care. HITECH stands for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health. A recent report (the full report is available here.) expresses concerns and provides suggestions.

Among other things the report worries about the so-called "meaningful use" standard for receiving government funds for creating EHRs and the like. Also, interoperability of systems is key.

For some time now I've thought that health care IT needed something like the IEEE, which sets standards--mostly for interoperability of systems.

One of my partners recently had a piece in Forbes.com on the problems of preparing for and implementing health care IT.