Health information technology policy perspectives and healthcare disparities

Over the past few years, the federal government and the private sector have made progress toward the goal of enhancing healthcare delivery through improved use of health information technology (HIT) (Thompson & Brailer, 2004). This work began in 1998 when the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) in a paper entitled Assuring a Health Dimension for the National Information Infrastructure reported that the nation's information infrastructure could be an essential tool for promoting the nation's health (Thompson & Brailer). Since then, several other initiatives have helped to define the US approach to apply information and communication technologies to the health sector.