Health Information Technology Policy

Health information technology (HIT), including electronic medical records and health information exchange (HIE), are becoming the focus of quality improvement and health care efficiency initiatives across the country.

While HIT has great potential to drive health care transformation, its adoption presents many policy issues that need to be addressed, including:

• Governance and leadership,
• Collaboration among stakeholders, including state and federal government agencies,
• Appropriate standards for data creation and exchange,
• Privacy and security of consumer information,
• Financing of HIT adoption, and
• Sustainability of HIE.

UMass Medical School’s Center for Health Policy and Research provides HIT thought leadership, research, and policy development for public sector health care programs and stakeholders.

Key Focus Areas

• Applying policy research to the intersection of HIT and public sector health care delivery
• Evaluating the outcomes (cost, quality, and access) of using health information technologies
• Helping public sector agencies leverage HIT and HIE to improve effectiveness, measure and improve program quality, and promote transparency and value

Key Projects

The Center for Health Policy and Research has been awarded a number of key research projects at the federal and state levels to develop policy and program recommendations for HIT and HIE initiatives.

• Public Sector Health Information Exchange: Challenges and Opportunities
  • An Examination of the Public Financing, Accountability, and Oversight Models to Sustain Electronic Health Information Exchange
  • Opportunities for Facilitating Electronic Health Information Exchange in Publicly Funded Programs
• Medicaid’s Role in HIT Adoption
  • Establishing a Foundation for Medicaid’s Role in the Adoption of Health Information Technology: Opportunities, Challenges, and Considerations for the Future
• HIT Adoption and Financial Impact
  • Health Information Technology Adoption in Massachusetts
  • The Impact of Electronic Health Information Exchange (HIE) Services in Maine