The primary goal of the federal economic stimulus package's HITECH Act is to improve health care quality, not simply to promote health IT adoption, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal said, Healthcare IT News reports.

Blumenthal spoke this week during the 17th Annual National HIPAA Summit in Washington, D.C. He said the stimulus package's health IT provisions could help lay the foundation for national health care reform.

Privacy, Security Blumenthal also said that health IT privacy and security will be critical to improving health care quality. To achieve the stimulus package's health IT goals, the public must have confidence in the security of their personal health record information, Blumenthal said. He added that physicians also must support health IT adoption (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 9/16).