The federal government’s role in promoting widespread health IT should not be permanent, Vish Sankaran, Director of the Federal Health Architecture Program, stated at the recent Healthcare Stimulus Exchange Roadshow. Sankaran said that the government’s role should be to “raise the bar, and tip the market” to work with the private sector. There was consensus at the Roadshow that the use of the open-source software, CONNECT, would be important for public-private collaboration on health IT. CONNECT was created as a platform to allow federal agencies and private systems to link nationally. It was also acknowledged that several short-term challenges remain for widespread health IT adoption, including: (1) financial constraints, (2) lack of technical expertise, and (3) lack of infrastructure.
Larry Gray, Director Health IT, SysTest Labs.
