Health Information Technology

Health Information Technology (Health IT)

Health IT (sometimes referred to globally as connected health, digital health, or eHealth) refers to the use of a suite of products and services designed to improve and coordinate patient care, address growing health costs and confront the long-term burden of disease using technology. Product and service subsectors include:

• Electronic health records (EHRs), real-time digital records that make patients health records immediately available to authorized users. EHRs can include medical history, treatment plans, medications, allergies, radiology images, and laboratory results [11]; 
• Remote patient monitoring, digital technologies that collect health data, allowing patient monitoring by providers in differing locations [12];  and
• Telemedicine, array of health services provided through technology-enabled platforms, including mobile health (mHealth), live videoconferencing and store-and-forward transmission of health data and information [13]. 

Countries at all levels of development and sophistication can derive benefits from implementing Health IT.  Health IT’s range of potential uses, along with the fact that other countries face concerns about providing affordable healthcare, makes the sector an attractive opportunity for increased exports by a wide variety of U.S. companies.

[11] Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/E-Health/EHealthRecords
[12] Center for Connected Health Policy, https://www.cchpca.org/about/about-telehealth/remote-patient-monitoring-rpm
[13] American Telemedicine Association, https://www.americantelemed.org/resource/why-telemedicine/