Perspectives on Healthcare IT, clinical informatics, emerging technology, and life at the intersection of nursing and enterprise systems.
A Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) is a regional system of VA medical centers, clinics, and services that work together to meet veterans’ healthcare needs. This post explains how VISNs began, how the VA’s December 2025 reorganization consolidated 18 networks into five, why regional structure matters for standardization, data, and health IT, and what it means for nurses.
Release of information (ROI) is the formal process for responding to requests to disclose health information to patients, other providers, and other authorized parties. This post explains how ROI works, the HIPAA right of access and its timelines, when authorization is required, how information blocking rules and patient portals have changed expectations, and what nurses should know.
A covered entity is an organization or individual that must comply with HIPAA: health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare providers that conduct certain transactions electronically. This post explains the three types of covered entities, when providers are covered, how business associates and hybrid entities fit, where HIPAA does not apply, and what it means for nurses.
The National Provider Identifier (NPI) is the unique 10-digit number that identifies healthcare providers in HIPAA standard transactions. This post explains how NPIs are assigned through NPPES, the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 NPIs, how they are used in claims, prescriptions, and directories, why provider data quality matters, and what nurses should know.
Accreditation has two meanings in health IT: formal approval that an information system may operate with acceptable security risk, and recognition that a healthcare organization meets an accrediting body’s standards. This post explains both, the accrediting organizations that matter in U.S. healthcare, and how health IT and nurses support them.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed in March 2010, expanded health coverage and launched major Medicare payment reforms. This post explains its coverage provisions, its value-based programs such as the CMS Innovation Center, ACOs, and readmission penalties, the health IT provisions behind enrollment and administrative transactions, and why it matters to nurses.
The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies healthcare organizations in the United States. This post explains how accreditation and Medicare deemed status work, what surveyors do with tracers and patient safety goals, and how health IT and nursing documentation support readiness every day.
View, Download, and Transmit (VDT) was a Meaningful Use Stage 2 measure requiring that patients be able to view their health information online, download it, and send it to a third party. This post explains what each part meant, how VDT shaped patient portals, and how today’s API, Promoting Interoperability, and information blocking rules build on it.
A prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) is a state-run electronic database of controlled substance prescriptions that prescribers and pharmacists can check before prescribing or dispensing. This post explains how PDMPs work, what federal and state requirements apply, why EHR integration matters, and how nurses and advanced practice nurses use PDMP information.
MACRA, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, replaced Medicare’s old physician payment formula with the Quality Payment Program, which pays eligible clinicians through MIPS or Advanced Alternative Payment Models. This post explains how the program works, how it connects to EHR data and Promoting Interoperability, and what it means for nurses and advanced practice nurses.
The HITECH Act is the 2009 federal law, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that funded EHR adoption and strengthened HIPAA privacy and security. This post explains its two halves, incentive programs and privacy enforcement, how they changed healthcare IT, and what they mean for nurses today.
Meaningful Use is the single biggest reason American hospitals digitized when they did. Billions in incentive payments — and later, penalties — moved EHR adoption from a minority practice to near-universal in under a decade. This post breaks down the HITECH origin, the three MU stages, the 2018 rename to Promoting Interoperability, and how it shows up at the bedside and on the CAHIMS exam.