What is Health IT (Health Information Technology)

Health information technology (HIT) provides the umbrella framework to describe the comprehensive management of health information and its secure exchange between consumers, providers, government and quality entities, and insurers. Health information technology (HIT) in general are increasingly viewed as the most promising tool for improving the overall quality, safety and efficiency of the health delivery system (Chaudhry et al., 2006). Broad and consistent utilization of HIT will:

Improve health care quality;
Prevent medical errors;
Reduce health care costs;
Increase administrative efficiencies;
Decrease paperwork; and
Expand access to affordable care.

Interoperable health IT will improve individual patient care, but it will also bring many public health benefits including:

Early detection of infectious disease outbreaks around the country;
Improved tracking of chronic disease management; and
Evaluation of health care based on value enabled by the collection of de-identified price and quality information that can be compared.