To mark the important role health information technology plays in improving healthcare delivery in America, Net New Growth and others across the United States have joined together to celebrate National Health Information Technology (NHIT) Week , September 12-16, 2011.

The past weekend’s 10-year anniversary of 9/11 certainly causes one to reflect on the many difficult moments we’ve had over the past decade—fears of bioterrorism, anthrax scares, large-scale natural disasters, outbreaks of food-borne illness. All of these events demonstrated the need for a broadly interconnected health system that can quickly provide a national-level of connection and exchange at multiple levels.

With the passage of the 2009 American Stimulus and Recovery Act, which included the HITECH bill, the vision of having such a system in place is becoming a reality. The work that has been accomplished in Health IT in the past few years is impressive and exciting. We need to keep the momentum and initiative moving forward. There will always be a shortage of time and money for supporting Health IT programs; such is the reality of life. But our collective commitment to the long range goal of a broadly interconnected health system that allows for the exchange of critical and dynamic information, as well as the commitment to improving patients care through better implementation of Health IT, is a goal that is worth continuing to work for.

Health information technology improves the quality of healthcare delivery, increases patient safety, decreases medical errors, and strengthens the interaction between patients and healthcare providers. Our participation in National Health IT Week highlights our organization’s commitment to ensure health information technology is integrated, interactive, interoperable, and intelligent to provide the best patient outcomes, at an individual level and at a national level. 

For additional information about National Health IT Week, visit www.healthitweek.org/.

Net New Growth will never forget what happened on September 11, 2001.  Today, on the tenth anniversary, we especially remember the ultimate sacrifice firefighters, police men and women, first responders and the medical community made to help those in need.  We also think of those who lost a loved one on that day as well.