Toward a National IT Infrastructure for HealthcareToward a National IT Infrastructure for Healthcare
March 1, 2005
Originally Published MX March/April 2005
IT IN HEALTHCARE
The UK's National Health Service is leading what is dubbed the world's largest IT program for healthcare.
Ian Howells
Where technology is concerned, healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom have often turned to their colleagues across the Atlantic for inspiration. But while U.S.-based institutions have pioneered the application of information technology (IT) to many areas of healthcare, the UK is now firmly ahead in terms of making progress toward establishing a national IT infrastructure for healthcare. The U.S. secretary of health and human services and President Bush have been visiting U.S. medical centers to discuss nationwide healthcare reform and see firsthand how IT can play a major role in that transformation. The UK, however, is already in action. Indeed, the $11-billion National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) currently being implemented by the National Health Service (NHS) is said to be the world's largest healthcare IT initiative to date.
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