New York State may be in the middle of a budget crisis, not unlike most of the states in the union, but legislators there understand the importance of funding health IT.
New York Gov. David Paterson announced the availability of $140 million in grants to healthcare facilities in the state for, among other things, the advancement of health IT.
I don't know the particulars of the state budget or what is being cut at the expense of funding this sector, but I do know this is a signal from legislators that they recognize the long-term value of health IT. With both federal and state funding for health IT adoption, New York State is in an arguably enviable position of developing its statewide HIE ahead of the pack and having a mature health IT infrastructure to start tracking and measuring real value.
When you put money into anything these days, you have to show ROI to justify to taxpayers the outlay. A lot of public agencies and services have intangible ROI. Ror example, funding public education increases the opportunity for developing a highly educated workforce in the state. When clinical outcomes and administrative efficiencies can be measured, health IT will exhibit tangible ROI.
Perhaps New York will be one of the first states to deliver the value of statewide HIEs. Given that it is a large, complex state, this would be encouraging to all in the industry, and perhaps help some of the other large, complex states that are having issues moving forward.
Another benefit is that by showing quantitative and qualitative value health IT should continue to be funded because legislators can show their taxpaying residents that the money is being well spent with higher quality, more efficient healthcare.
Photo by Arnob_1 1998 obtained via Creative Commons license.
