Hit Will Be H-O-T
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The health information technology (HIT) industry got a $30 billion shot in the arm (bad pun intended) thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, but the sector’s current boom is just the beginning, says Professor of Operations & Technology Management Joseph Restuccia.
The law affectionately—or not—known as Obamacare is attempting to encourage better preventive care and greater collaboration among care providers, and one of the keys to making the new system work, says Restuccia, is creative use of HIT. Restuccia expects to see innovation in three specific technology areas:
1. Electronic Health Records, which could improve the coordination of our care and reduce redundant medical testing.
2. Telehealth, which can bring big-city specialty care to small-town America (or Africa, or Asia).
3. Mobile Health, which promises to allow smartphones to do everything from tracking weight loss to tracking the spread of epidemic diseases.
