A sentiment often felt when a recession hits. As belts are tightened, budgets slashed, and colleagues laid off, many take solace in knowing they’ve been spared. Issues like job satisfaction, personal fulfillment, equitable work schedules, and – yes – even pay, take a back seat to gratitude for simply remaining employed.

“Meaningful use” is the term used in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)section of ARRA (aka the stimulus bill).  It refers to a set of criteria required to receive incentive payments from either Medicare or Medicaid. 

The stimulus funding, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is starting to flow.  Or if not flow, the feds have at least connected the pipes without actually turning on the spigot.  So what does this mean to CIO’s in the health arena?

Most all security guys will tell you that Identity Management (IDM) is a security thing, but if you think about it security is focused on keeping people out of your systems and IDM is a framework for letting people in. I think that IDM fits  better in the privacy area.