2016 Report to Congress on Health IT Progress: Examining the HITECH Era and the Future of Health IT

The 2016 Report to Congress on Health Information Technology Progress is prepared by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to describe the specific actions that have been taken by the federal government and private entities to facilitate the adoption of a nationwide system for the electronic use and exchange of health information. Since the passage of the HITECH Act, the health IT landscape has dramatically evolved. Hospitals and health care providers are using health IT at unprecedented levels. This rapid digitization of the health system was the result of many factors, including extensive collaboration among clinicians, hospitals, technologists, patient and consumer advocates, and experts from all over the country. This progress, where an extraordinary amount of electronic health information and infrastructure now exist that the country lacked merely a decade ago, has set the stage for a transition in focus to the seamless and secure flow of this health information – also known as interoperability – to improve the health and care of individuals and communities. HHS will continue to work with public and private sector partners in the months and years to come to ensure that people, organizations, and communities can easily access actionable electronic health information when and where it matters most. .