Building the Best Foundation for Pennsylvania Health IT - By Kelly Lewis [e-mail] www.techquestpa.com

[Kelly Lewis]

With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the federal government will invest billions of dollars in health information technology, broadband, workforce development and job training.

To maximize the ARRA investment and help state organizations become ARRA eligible, Pennsylvania's strategy -- ARRA/PA -- needs to be a well-funded, well-coordinated, interagency and cross-industry.

Health IT has improved patient safety and quality of care while reducing costs. For a self-sustaining health IT system, ARRA/PA must address daunting challenges.


• Broadband and cyber security: Most hospitals and physician offices lack advanced broadband and related security. A coordinated strategy based on successful broadband aggregation models is needed.

• Electronic medical record adoption: With only 9 percent of U.S. hospitals and 13 to 20 percent of physician offices using a robust electronic medical record (EMR) system, ARRA/PA must call for EMR adoption rates of at least 95 percent for hospitals and 65 percent for physician offices.

• Health care and health IT workforce: With little unemployment in the health IT sector, ARRA/PA investments must enable a workforce training surge, as well as new job skills to meet the anticipated need for 750 to 1,000 more health IT workers and 1,000 to 1,500 allied health jobs. Educational institutions must be informed of health IT skill needs.

• Workforce competition: With the expected intense competition among states for workers in the health IT- and broadband-related sectors, ARRA/PA investments must attract and retain workers.

• Technology deployment: With better infrastructures and an energized and more skilled workforce, Pennsylvania's actual health IT/EMR implementations will achieve greater success, adoption rates and results at a significantly lower cost.

• Long-term sustainability: ARRA/PA investments must incubate, support and grow regional clusters of firms and institutions that support the infrastructure, workforce and technology base necessary.

ARRA/PA should use successful Pennsylvania models, such as industry partnership workforce training, broadband aggregation, paid internships and the growing innovation culture. ARRA/PA should first build a strong foundation for Pennsylvania to implement the best health IT systems.

By building a strong health IT infrastructure and workforce with a coordinated statewide strategy, Pennsylvania families will get patient safety, health care quality while reducing healthcare costs.

Kelly Lewis is president and chief executive officer of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, which operates TechQuest Pennsylvania. [e-mail]