ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) and the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act, which are seen as separate entities. The author looks at a theoretical perspective on how these pieces of legislation are affecting the community, and how focused they are on prevention in public health. Also analyzed are the main players in public health, which will focus on government, the individual, the community, and physicians/health providers. This will lay the foundation for the rest of the chapters in this book, which cover these specific set of stakeholders and their importance in making prevention their purpose, and improved public health outcomes a reality. Not only can these stakeholders use the new health reform as a major pillar for change, but they also can

use health information technologies as a tool for improving health, which is why these two laws and concepts should be analyzed together. This chapter’s perspective is fresh, because most researchers look at what each individual legislation offers and the objectives of the legislation, rather than the bigger picture of what the legislation is proposing and whether the community is able to achieve perceived benefits. The author ties the two pieces of legislation together and analyzes similarities and differences in producing community well-being.