2016 Report to Congress on Health IT Progress: Examining the HITECH Era and the Future of Health IT
HHS Press Office November, 2016
Executive Summary
Progress in the HITECH Era
Individuals and stakeholders within the health sector rely on information. Complete, accurate, and actionable information enables patients to obtain the care they need and to manage their health, providers to make timely and accurate diagnoses, public health entities to conduct electronic immunization reporting and disease surveillance, and researchers to advance science by finding effective treatments for cancer or pursuing precision medicine.
Prior to 2009, most hospitals, doctors’ offices, and other health facilities captured information on paper and shared this...