Consumers are at the heart of IT efforts, top official says

The common denominator driving the Obama administration's push for widespread use of electronic health records, smart meters and downloadable agency statistics is consumer empowerment, the top federal technology official said on Monday.

All three initiatives are intended to equip citizens with information that can help them make better life decisions, federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra told attendees of a health information technology conference sponsored by the eHealth Initiative, an independent organization that works to improve health care through IT. "2010 will be the year of implementation and results," Chopra said. "This will be the year we are going to see . . . newer products, services, tools and capabilities -- changes in the plumbing of our industry."