Health Information Technology—Results From a Roundtable Discussion

By the increasing volume of available clinical data the Health information technology (HIT) tools was created to help patients, Health professionals, and health plans to understand and use the data to its fullest potential. The introduction of HIT, such as e-prescribing and electronic health records, holds great promise for addressing many of the barriers to effective healthcare management. This article reviewed various barriers surrounding the implementation of HIT in the United States and potential drivers that will influence the use of e-prescribing and EHR. Some of those barriers to the adoption of HIT in the United States are the high costs of the technology, general resistance to change, misaligned incentives, and the fractured payment system. The Authors concludes that is expected that the adoption rate of this technology will increase through public and private incentives for using HIT. They also mentioned the need for further studies to obtain data to support improvements in quality of care and cost reductions that accompany HIT adoption.

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