The Greatest Health IT Achievement in 2009

What's the greatest health IT achievement that occurred in 2009? This is a question that is being discussed in the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) group on LinkedIn. There are quite a few comments and it's interesting to hear what people think. Cari McLean started this discussion topic a few weeks ago and I agree that the inclusion of the HITECH (Health IT) provision within ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) was a huge accomplishment for the health IT industry.

What do you think?

Beyond seeing a ton of discussion around "meaningful use" and other HITECH related topics, we haven't seen a huge movement among physicians to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) in 2009. My guess is that we'll see a great tidal wave in 2010. Many physicians chose to bite the bullet to invest in an EHR, but many are waiting for more information and they'll probably make the transition in 2010. This means that we should see many opportunities for health IT professionals who wish to help physicians and hospitals adopt and incorporate EHRs into routine clinical practice.