The State of Health Information Technology in the United States

Abstract

The implementation of comprehensive electronic medical records and related health information technology in the United States began in the 1990's. Interest grew as the Institute of Medicine highlighted deficiencies in the quality of cancer healthcare delivery which was compounded by the realization that spiraling healthcare costs had become unsustainable. Invariably, health information technology came to be seen as a critical component of healthcare reform. At the same time, advances in the science of cancer biology have created both enormous potential to rapidly advance the treatment of cancer patients as well as a state of impending information overload that may limit the ability to take full advantage of what will soon be possible. The recession in 2008 led to a fiscal stimulus package of over $20 billion US dollars as of January 2014 to incentivize the implementation of electronic health records in ambulatory clinics and hospitals. Although this has resulted in a digital health infrastructure in the United States that did not previously exist, how to apply this new capability to improve healthcare and health research is yet to be defined. ASCO's CancerLinQTM is a potential socio-technological solution based on the rapid learning health model and will be described.