Health Information Technology 

Overview
Key Components of HIT
Making Healthy Connections
HIT Resources 

Overview
Health information technology (HIT) describes the equipment, networks and infrastructure used in health care settings to store, protect, retrieve and transfer clinical, administrative and financial information electronically. HIT can improve patient safety, quality of care and efficiency, as well as lower costs.

Despite its potential advantages, the U.S. health care system has been slow to adopt HIT. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that only about 20 percent of primary care physicians have even a basic electronic health record (EHR) system for their patients. And the EHR systems these few providers use are often incompatible with other providers’ systems.

Key Components of HIT
HIT includes a broad range of technologies, from computers to software to systems for exchanging data:

1. Hardware 
   
   1. Computers
      
      
2. Software
   1. EHR
      
   2. Practice management systems for scheduling, billing, patient flow and referrals
      
   3. Disease registries
      
   4. Data management (for reporting and decision making)
      
   5. Personal Health Records (health records maintained by the consumer)
      
      
3. Internet Access 
   
   
4. Health Information Exchange -- Systems that allow data to be exchanged among providers and across health care settings 
   
   
5. Telemedicine -- Long-distance health care delivered via the Internet and computer or using other technologies

Making Healthy Connections
To improve the quality of care for underserved populations, the Foundation created Healthy Connections. This multiyear initiative is designed to bring the benefits of HIT to providers serving low-income, uninsured Coloradans. Now in its third year, 29 Healthy Connections grants totaling close to $4.5 million have been made to advance the use of HIT in Colorado.

Healthy Connections
HIT Resources