The Rand Corporation, a conservative think tank known for its research on national security issues published a dissertation by one of its graduates in 2007 (pre-ARRA, pre-meaningful use era) that analysed the process of adopting HIT and provided recommendations for government involvement and medicare reimbursement models that could drive adoption and thereby modernize this critical aspect of care delivery.  The publication, titled “Accelerating the Adoption of Clinical IT Among the Healthcare Providers in the US – Strategies and Policies”, by Katya Fonkych, will inconvenience approx. 0.5 mb worth of electrons if you choose to download it here.

I bring this document up four years after its publication because many of the technology adoption issues  aside, its description of the status of Health IT and what is needed to move forward is still largely valid.  It provides a highly descriptive.  Reading this document will give those who are new to ARRA and meaningful use an understanding of issues that have driven the push toward HIT nationally.  It rightly points out that improvements in the quality and therefore safety of care delivered are contingent upon the health-system as a whole reaping the benefits of HIT – namely the ability to access timely and appropriate clinical information and decision support at the point of care, then act on that information by applying evidence based  clinical decision support and finally reviewing outcomes data to further refine the provision of care.

Finally, bear in mind that this document is a graduate dissertation and as such may not be as engaging a read as one would hope for.  However, it is as I menationed a great resource in the quest to understand issues relating to the adoption of HIT.