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| FY 1994 NIST Funding: $30 million | |
|---|---|
| Total FY 1994-98 NIST Funding: $185 million | |
| Potential for U.S. Economic Benefit | The
healthcare industry has a pivotal role in the economic health of the
country. Medical spending is expected to top $1 trillion in 1994,
and conservative estimates figure 20 percent of today's healthcare
costs are related to the processing of information. Using effective
information technology systems in the healthcare industry can deliver
substantial cost savings while also strengthening an important sector
of our industry. On the other hand, continuation of today's segmented
applications of information systems to healthcare will only move the
industry further from the possibility for a seamless information infrastructure.
Growth in the healthcare industry should be part of a systemwide approach to information systems. It should not be driven by isolated technology applications that provide only piecemeal solutions to our healthcare information needs.
Even so, healthcare is the fastest growing market in the computer field. Medical software systems, for example, have uses in patient monitoring, financial information tracking, and analysis -- all increasingly important tasks as our healthcare information infrastructure develops. The ATP focused program can drive further the growth rate for both computer hardware and medical information systems used in the healthcare industry. |
| Technology Challenge | The
ATP Information Infrastructure for Healthcare program will develop
technologies at each of three consecutive levels:
After the five-year program is completed, and the technical goals are met, the nation should expect to see the capability to develop products that will:
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| Industry Commitment | This focused program builds on about 36 detailed white papers submitted by industry and on follow-up discussions with the representatives of companies and organizations in several sectors of the healthcare and information communities. About 400 of these representatives took part in a workshop to help formulate this program. In the past two years, major industry consortia have begun to address the very complex interoperability issues related to a national healthcare information infrastructure. These consortia include the Computerized Patient Record Institute, Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation's Healthcare Open System Trials program, and the National Healthcare Industry Consortium. Although member companies do research on individual technologies, ATP funding is needed to catalyze development of an infrastructure that will connect these islands of automation. The consortia and other players have agreed to at least match the cost of any technology development on the part of the federal government if they submit successful proposals. |
| Significance of ATP Funds | Existing
multimillion-dollar programs of research in healthcare information
technology lack the coordination and integration necessary to share
information nationwide. For example, individual hospitals are developing
or installing their own information technology systems without knowing
how to make sure that they will be connected seamlessly to the national
healthcare enterprise. These institutions run the risk of investing
huge resources in systems that will limit inherently the ability of
others -- including suppliers, insurance companies, and non-affiliated
physicians -- to make the best, most efficient use of the information
contained in those systems. Furthermore, they miss out on the economies
of scope that a more systematic approach to healthcare information
systems would bring.
Today, the development of the technology needed to establish a national, interoperable, dynamic information system is unlikely to occur with current industry effort. By creating a way for the private-sector players to coordinate their efforts, the ATP can minimize the individual risk so that investments can be made in the technologies necessary for long-term success.
Other government agencies are investing in information technology applications for healthcare, but the money flows almost exclusively to one of three areas: funding basic health research; low-risk, near-term problems directly related to the mission of the funding organization; or establishing small, isolated pilot projects using existing technology. NIST has, in fact, involved many of those agencies as this program has been developed to ensure coordination and cooperation. The ATP focused program will be unique in providing funding for high-risk technology development projects that are led by industry and designed to have a major economic impact on both the U.S. information technology sector and on the healthcare system that so desperately needs to take better advantage of the benefits that information technology can deliver. |
Return to Brief Descriptions of Focused Programs
Go to List of ATP Awards
for Information Instrastructure for Healthcare
Date created: 1998
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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ATP
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