Government agencies to spend $15 billion on health IT by 2014

Federal, state and local governments will spend $15 billion on information technology systems to support their public health and health insurance programs in 2014, a $3 billion increase from 2009 levels, according to a new report from research firm Input. Public agencies spend money to promote public health, provide care, buy health care supplies and pay insurance premiums and the government health IT systems support those activities. By that definition, federal health IT spending is predicted to rise from $4.5 billion today to $5.6 billion in 2014, and state and local health IT spending is projected to increase from 7.6 billion today to $9.6 billion in 2014, according to the report released Oct. 21 and done by the Input analysis team of Angie Petty and Lauren Jones. The government health IT systems encompass several types of services, including disease and clinical management, emergency medical services, geospatial information, record locator services, laboratory management, Medicaid management, medical records, patient tracking, e-prescriptions, telemedicine and vital records.