It will be more than a year before acute health care providers making meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR) can receive Medicare and Medicaid incentives. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is already gearing up for the initiative. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will soon send documents to state Medicaid agencies to help them develop the health information technology plans required by the program. To prepare for its role in promoting EHRs, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology plans to make several organizational changes, including the appointment of a chief privacy officer.