Federal Government Awards Contracts for Electronic Health Systems in 12 Regions

Strategic Insights -

The federal government has awarded contracts to four consortiums to build electronic health systems in 12 regions across the country, with the goal of creating models for a nationwide health information network. The contracts, totaling $18.6 million, are a fraction of the investment that the four groups - led by Accenture, the Computer Sciences Corporation, I.B.M., and Northrop Grumman - will make in the regions. The government's role is to set goals and require companies to link doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals in computer networks using open data standards, while leaving the details of implementation to the private sector.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Department of Health and Human Services awarded contracts to four consortiums to build electronic health systems in 12 regions, with a total value of $18.6 million.
  • The four groups - led by Accenture, the Computer Sciences Corporation, I.B.M., and Northrop Grumman - will invest significantly more than the $18.6 million in the regions.
  • The government's role is to set goals and require companies to link doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals in computer networks using open data standards.
  • The pilot projects will create personal digital health records and provide physicians with affordable online access to patient records, diagnostic information, and billing.
  • Each of the four corporate groups has three regions in which it must develop local health networks over the next year, and can use different technologies as long as one local network can pass patient and other health information back and forth to other local networks.
  • The goal is to create a nationwide health information network, with the approach championed by the Bush administration being conceptually similar to automated teller networks at banks.
  • The 12 regions for the pilot projects include both urban and rural areas, from Cleveland to eastern Kentucky.

Statistics:

  • The federal government awarded four contracts, with a total value of $18.6 million.
  • More than 70 corporate groups sought the contracts.
  • Investment in information technology is expected to grow rapidly in a drive to improve quality and curb rising costs in health care, which accounts for 15 percent of the nation's economic output.
  • The Bush administration's coordinator for health information technology, Dr. David J. Brailer, hopes to stimulate a lot of capital investment in the next several years.
  • The 12 regions for the pilot projects cover a diverse range of areas, including Cleveland and eastern Kentucky.

Sources:

  • "Federal Government Awards Contracts to Four Consortiums to Build Electronic Health Systems" (date not specified)
  • "Dr. David J. Brailer, the Bush administration's coordinator for health information technology" (date not specified)
  • "Investment in information technology is expected to grow rapidly in a drive to improve quality and curb rising costs in health care, which accounts for 15 percent of the nation's economic output" (source not specified)