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Health Information Privacy and Incentives, Medicaid Funding, and Other Health Care Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

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Inicio Perspectivas Health Information Privacy and Incentives, Medicaid Funding, and Other Health Care Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

On Feb. 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the “ARRA”). The sweeping $790 billion economic stimulus package includes a number of health care policy provisions, including, among many other things:

  • $19 billion in funding to accelerate the adoption of health information technology systems, including through Medicare incentive payments to physicians and hospitals
  • Strengthened federal privacy and security provisions to protect personally-identifiable health information, including notification requirements for health data security breaches
  • Approximately $87 billion in additional federal matching funds over two years to help states maintain their Medicaid programs in the face of state budget shortfalls
  • $1.1 billion to support comparative effectiveness research
  • Provisions blocking a number of Bush Administration Medicare and Medicaid regulatory policies
  • Provisions to help unemployed workers maintain health insurance coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”) law
  • Whistleblower protections against reprisals for employees of state and local governments or private contractors who disclose gross mismanagement, waste, or violations of law related to contracts or grants using ARRA funds, which presumably extends to health care funding

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