Economic Imperative – Medicaid expenditures take center state in economic development

"Medicaid expenditures will exceed public education expenditures for the first time this year," said Leavitt. "If health care begins to push out all other priorities, it throws off the economic equation."

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt delivered sobering news to CIOs gathered in Washington, D.C., for NASCIO’s midyear conference in May.

That’s a troubling development for governors and mayors whose states and communities compete for prosperity in a global economy. It’s also an opportunity for the IT community to do some genuine good — but only if a wide range of government officials, health-care providers, health insurers and others can agree on interoperability standards for health-care information and IT systems.

Electronic health records and other IT applications could slash the cost of delivering health care, which has ballooned from an annual cost of $143 per person in 1960 to nearly $6,000 per person today. As with most forms of technology, however, the potential benefits of health IT depend largely on policies that allow these systems to talk to each other.

By Steve Towns, Editor

Full Story: http://www.govtech.net/magazine/story.php?id=94434