Public Policy and Health Informatics
Bates DW., Sheikh A.
Levels of use of health information technology vary dramatically both by country and within country. While there are many reasons for this, one major one is that the financial benefits for implementing information technology are not necessarily assigned with the payment approach. Another is that in single-payer systems most are chronically financially strapped and they lack mechanisms to support major new investments. Nonetheless, it has become clear that policy approaches can have a major impact on adoption levels, use and advancement of standards, and clinical data exchange, among other domains.