Health Information Technology

The health information technology (HIT) team at Commonwealth Medicine, the health care consulting division of UMass Medical School, embraces the power of technology to transform the administration of health care today. Our Center for Health Policy and Research is dedicated to providing leadership, research, and policy development in the field — and to remaining at the forefront of the HIT trend, especially as it affects public sector health programs.

While HIT is poised to bring about tremendous change in the way health care is administered, privacy and security issues must be dealt with to ensure that HIT does not become a negative influence. Commonwealth Medicine is actively addressing these crucial policy issues:

• Governance and leadership
• Collaboration among stakeholders, including state and federal government agencies
• Appropriate standards for data creation and exchange
• Privacy and security of consumer information
• Financing of HIT adoption
• Sustainability of health information exchange (HIE)
  

Our team is also involved with electronic medical records and health information exchange (HIE). In combination with HIT, all of these are essential parts of quality improvement and health care efficiency initiatives throughout the U.S.