The potential of eHealth, and specifically Health IT, to advance health care is in itself a major driver for the adoption and increasingly wide-spread use of the eHealth technologies. Recognizing this potential impact, the federal and state governments have enacted legislation to accelerate the implementation and Meaningful Use of core Health IT technologies, such as Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and Health Information Exchange (HIE) in all provider settings.

Federal and state government agencies across the United States enable and enforce the implementation and Meaningful Use through a system of regulations, policies, quality standards, incentives, penalties and reporting requirements in the effort to drive the positive impact of Health IT forward.