Overview of the US policies for health information technology and lessons learned for Israel.

The heaLthcare system in the United States (U.S.) faces a number of significant changes aimed at improving the quality and availability of medical services and reducing costs. Implementation of health information technologies, especiaLly ELectronic Health Records (EHR), is central to achieving these goals. Several recent Legislative efforts in the U.S. aim at defining standards and promoting wide scale "Meaningful Use" of the novel technologies. In Israel, the majority of heaLthcare providers adopted EHR throughout the Last decade. Unlike the U.S., the process of EHR adoption occurred spontaneously, without governmental control or the definition of standards. In this article, we review the U.S. health information technology policies and standards and suggest potential lessons Learned for Israel. First, we present the three-staged Meaningful Use regulations that require eligible healthcare practitioners to use EHR in their practice. We also describe the standards for EHR certification and national efforts to create interoperable health information technology networks. Finally, we provide a brief overview of the IsraeLi regulation in the field of EHR. Although the adoption of health information technology is wider in Israel, the Lack of technology standards and governmental control has Led to Large technology gaps between providers. The example of the U.S. Legislation urges the adoption of several critical steps to further enhance the quality and efficiency of the Israeli healthcare system, in particular: strengthening health information technology regulation; developing Licensure criteria for health information technology; bridging the digital gap between healthcare organizations; defining quality measures; and improving the accessibility of health information for patients.