According to a recent iHealthBeat article, Dr. David Blumenthal, the U.S. National Coordinator for Health IT, identified four barriers to health IT adoption in the US in a recent speech. These barriers include:
- A lack of adequate funds;
- Not having the necessary infrastructure to support the exchange of health information;
- Concerns among health care providers about what type of EHR system to purchase and whether it will become outdated; and
- The need to convince the general public that health information will be exchanged privately.
In the same speech, Dr. Blumenthal stated that many of these challenges will be full or partially addressed by the various initiatives driven by HITECH Act funding.
Does Canada face similar challenges to the US regarding adoption of health IT? Are our various funding programs (provincial EMR programs, Infoway programs, etc) addressing the Canadian challenges or are additional initiatives required?
Mike
