It's about time, guys. Federal agencies are placing a new emphasis on the power of IT to foster healthcare industry changes--budgeting nearly $5 billion for infrastructure upgrades and improved network connectivity. Agencies like HHS, the VA and the Department of Homeland Security will place a particular emphasis on EMR adoption and health data sharing next year. To get that done, they plan to consolidate data centers, hook up isolated systems and move some systems to component-based architectures, according to Gaithersburg, MD-based federal spending research firm fedXccel. The largest project HHS is contemplating next year seems to be a $72.3 million upgrade of CMS's MMA contracting system. Another standout is NIH, which has at least a dozen smaller projects on the table.
For more information on federal health IT plans:
- read this press release
- download this list of the top 30 HHS contracting opps for '07