HIPAA, maybe. HITECH and Meaningful Use would be more relevant (2009 onwards).
It's been a while, but I remember thousands of pages of granular user-interface-level requirements (think 'display of telephone number icons') to quality for federal recognition as an electronic medical record system. Hospitals/clinics not using a federally-approved vendor received increasing % penalties to their reimbursements as deadlines passed. Forcing through EMR adoption was meant to improve outcomes.. or something.
Some of the requirements are defined by references to standards prepared by consulting companies, which charge for access to these standards. Additionally, certification of compliance with standards was farmed out to a couple consulting companies.
It's been a while, but I remember thousands of pages of granular user-interface-level requirements (think 'display of telephone number icons') to quality for federal recognition as an electronic medical record system. Hospitals/clinics not using a federally-approved vendor received increasing % penalties to their reimbursements as deadlines passed. Forcing through EMR adoption was meant to improve outcomes.. or something.
Some of the requirements are defined by references to standards prepared by consulting companies, which charge for access to these standards. Additionally, certification of compliance with standards was farmed out to a couple consulting companies.