Final answer:
HITECH accelerated the adoption of EHRs by providing financial incentives to healthcare providers. An HIO/HIE is a system or organization that facilitates the sharing of healthcare information. In Maryland, there are several HIOs/HIEs, including CRISP and CRHIE.
Step-by-step explanation:
The United States enacted HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) legislation in 2009. Its goal was to encourage healthcare providers to adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs) meaningfully. By offering financial incentives to healthcare providers who demonstrated meaningful use of EHRs, HITECH sped up the adoption of EHRs. Due to these incentives, businesses were enticed to purchase EHR systems, which resulted in the widespread use of digital health records.
A system or organization that makes it easier for patients, healthcare providers, and other authorized entities to share healthcare information is called an HIO (Health Information Organization), also referred to as an HIE (Health Information Exchange). A number of HIOs/HIEs exist in the state of Maryland, such as the Capital Region HIE (CRHIE), the Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP), and others.