With the growing of health information technology, all parties need to be involved including both government and private sectors of healthcare. The whole point of health IT is to improve communication and coordination among all different health ca

re providers. The HITECH Act got everything started for new technology such as the implementation of EMR systems. But the government can’t keep it up by themselves. Help from the private sector will help push this along tremendously.

In article by the ONC it states “at a recent meeting on Advancing EHR Adoption and Meaningful Use sponsored by Health Affairs and Brandeis University’s Health Industry Forum at the National Press Club, payers, providers, and certification and licensing boards came together to announce early plans for supporting rapid adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records.”

• Payers (Aetna, Highmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, United Health Group, and Wellpoint) announced plans for incentive programs that will work in parallel with the CMS program and utilize the meaningful use objectives.
• Leading provider groups (the Christiana Care Health System, Partners HealthCare, and ThedaCare) announced training and requirements for clinicians.
• And, perhaps most significantly, certification and licensure bodies (the Federation of State Medical Boards and the American Board of Medical Specialties) announced steps for assisting and encouraging physicians in the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records, with the ultimate goal that their use will become an element of professional certification.

With these incentive plans, we will see the private sector jumping onboard with new health care technology and hopefully see a push toward better healthcare for both government and private sectors. Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, brings this all together saying “with the meaningful use goals as their framework, these representatives of the private sector are formulating a strategy for the transformation of health care in our country through the use of health IT. These are indeed significant and encouraging first steps, occurring a mere three weeks after announcement of the final phase 1 meaningful use rules. We applaud their efforts and we look forward to more payers, providers, and others in both the public and private sectors joining the team to move together towards our common goal.”