Government & Policy

Election uncertainty made holding off on a health insurance exchange or Medicaid expansion appealing to conservative Governors. And while many are still resisting, experts in the trenches believe that is on the verge of changing now that President Obama has been reelected.

Now that the election is over and the Affordable Care Act has been made permanent by the Supreme Court's decision, governors who have been sitting on healthcare decisions have "a lot of pent up energy" for moving forward, said former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist at a post-election healthcare meeting held in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

In his book, The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era (Simon & Schuster), Michael Grunwald, a correspondent for TIME magazine, makes a compelling case that President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), is probably more transformative in the long run than Roosevelt's New Deal.

Part-time workers comprise some 70 percent of FEMA's workforce and they often operate without health insurance coverage.

The Statewide Health Information Network of New York enabled critical continuity of care as patients moved around in wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Interoperability can be fragile even when developers write good code, so testing early by vendors and other organizations is critical for meaningful use and health information exchange.

With his repeated vows to repeal the PPACA, a President Romney might be more cheerleader than funder for health IT, including the meaningful use program, which some experts said could become an attractive target for cuts because there is money promised but not yet paid.

David S. Finn, Symantec's health IT officer, looks at the reasons some leaders keep HIT employees longer than others.

Mitt Romney is no stranger to health information technology advocacy. But despite his earlier initiatives as governor of Massachusetts, many experts say health IT policies and their funding could be at risk if he were elected president.

Depending on whether Obama or Romney wins the election could signal a burst or lack of activity in producing a health insurance exchange blueprint by Nov. 16.