Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act(HITECH)

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act came in to existence as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It imposes certain requirements on vendors of personal health records (and other related entities) in the event of certain security breaches relating to protected health information.

In February 2009, President Obama signed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act as part of his overall economic stimulus plan. The HITECH Act continues the effort of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to encourage movement to electronic patient records and to deliver stricter data protection regulations for more secure patient privacy.

Reference: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/How-to-Secure-Healthcare-Data-to-Meet-HITECH-Act-Compliance/