Reflections on US health care information technology policy from a global perspective

Health information technology (HIT) has been lauded as a foundation upon which the development of an integral solution to cost and quality problems facing many nations is predicated. Countries throughout the world have taken differing approaches in their efforts to advance that foundation through policy, financial, and cultural systems that come to support or hinder adoption. As we explore potential opportunities to learn from the experience of others, we pause to consider the environmental, regulatory, financial, and social dynamics that define the US context.

This chapter outlines the framework for a comparative approach through four dimensions--environmental, regulation, financial, and social--through which comparative HIT studies should be explored.

With such markedly different contexts in which their HIT is embedded, it is important to not simply look at other countries as a yardstick upon which we compare our failures and successes. Rather, we must look critically at these examples understanding that the dynamics at play in each context have created opportunities and obligations that have come to define each country's implementation.

The need for a common framework through which scholars can explore comparative HIT systems, while remaining grounded in the US context is an important aspect of effective knowledge translation in adoption.