Meaningful Use, HITECH Sparked Spike in EHR Venture Capitalism

Following the introduction of the HITECH Act’s meaningful use program, entrepreneurship and venture capitalism in the health IT field increased, according a study conducted in JAMA Network Open. Although increased entrepreneurship and venture capitalism in health IT may promote EHR innovation, especially at early-stage companies, clinicians remain dissatisfied with the product. The health IT business only saw about $2.7 billion in investments beginning in 2000. Following the passage of the HITECH ACT in 2009, over $6 billion was invested into health IT and EHR-related companies. In particular, the large-scale digitization of the medical record system was not only a major project in itself, but it would have also created a large trove of digital health data and spurred new clinical workflows upon which other health care IT tools and products could be built,” wrote the authors of the study.