So much to do, so little time. To accomplish the mandatory initiatives of ARRA, healthcare organizations will require significant and thoughtful planning, prioritization and execution.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has set forth legislation for the healthcare community to achieve adoption of electronic health records (EHR), as well as form data standards, health information exchanges (HIE) and compliance with more stringent security and privacy controls under the HITECH Act. While the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) works on the definition of both "meaningful use" and "certification" of information technology systems, providers in particular must move forward with their IT initiatives to achieve the basic requirements for Medicare and Medicaid incentives starting in 2011, and avoid penalties that will reduce reimbursement beginning in 2015. In addition, providers, payors, government and non-government stakeholders will all have to balance the implementation of EHRs, working with HIEs, at the same time that they must upgrade their systems to be in compliance with ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010 code sets. Compliance deadlines for EHRs and HIEs begin in 2011, while ICD-10 diagnosis and procedure code sets compliance is required by October 2013 and HIPAA 5010 transaction sets, with one exception, is required by January 1, 2012. In order to accomplish these strategic and mandatory initiatives successfully and simultaneously, healthcare organizations will require significant and thoughtful planning, prioritization and execution.