Federal spending on health IT to shoot up

Federal spending on HIT is set for a boom over the next five years, according to a new report from a market research firm. The firm, Input, projects that federal HIT spending will rise 7.1 percent each year, to hit $4.5 billion by 2013. This spending will be driven in part by modernization projects by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments, which, among other things, are working on huge EMR projects and extending their data reach into pharmacy and laboratory ops. Interestingly, Input is projecting that federal HIT budgets will climb, regardless of which political party takes over the White House in January, given the immensity of the needs involved.

To learn more about this report:
- read this Government Health IT article [1]

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