Healthcare IT Adoption under Different Government Models: Debating the HITECH Impacts

Governments around the world are investing in healt hcare as they attempt to increase access to care and the quality of care, while simultaneously lowering the costs of providing care. Many of these investments are in healthcare IT (HIT). The I T software industry is preparing for intensive competition for their HIT packages and workers in r esponse to government and private industry investments. Yet different national healthcare mode ls have produced widely differing healthcare outcomes and HIT adoption rates, with the U.S. perf orming poorly on both. The objective of this panel is to provide insights based on HIT research conducted in multiple healthcare contexts under different national government models, and then to e ngage the panel audience in debating the prospects for success of three IT-enabled healthcar e delivery reforms being government-funded in the U.S. over the next 5 years. Our larger goal is to provide a forum for information sharing that will motivate other IS researchers across the globa l IS research community to contribute to the design of solutions and the capturing of best pract ices that will address some of the key goals of IT-enabled healthcare reform: improved access and quality, and decreased costs.