BY the time you read this, 2010 will be in full swing, and we have every reason to be optimistic about the increasing role information technology will play in our healthcare system.

Expectations are high all around. We think they are about to get higher with the spotlight shining on “beacon communities” that will serve as models for others around the country for applying information technology and sharing data to improve population health.

The beacons will receive government funds – a total of $220 million to 15 communities. The goal is to help them establish and strengthen infrastructure and exchange capabilities – to show every other community how it’s done. They will share lessons learned, and they will inspire.

It’s a brilliant idea and a wise way to spend government money. It offers both practical approaches in the lessons learned and the intangible benefit as these exemplary organizations take the spotlight.

As David Blumenthal MD, head of the Office of the National Coordinator, put it in a recent blog, “Demonstrating that widespread adoption and meaningful use of health IT is both feasible and can lead to improved care and cost savings in the beacon communities can empower and motivate other communities to get connected. Beacon communities will, we hope, light the path toward a higher quality, more efficient healthcare system for all Americans.”

We can’t wait to find out – in March – which groups will be awarded the grants and why. Work is slated to begin in April.

There’s more to be optimistic about as the ONC begins to spend the money provided under the HITECH section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The following programs and others work hand in glove with the beacon grants to spur the use of IT in healthcare in a meaningful way:

• The establishment f ealth Information Technol-ogy egional Extension Centers to offer technical assistance, guidance and best practices to help providers adopt and use electronic health records meaningfully.
• The creation of Curriculum Development Centers, a piece of the Health IT Workforce Program, will provide $10 million in grants to institutions of higher education to support the development of healthcare IT curricula.
• Community College Consortia, another component of the Health IT Workforce Program, seek to rapidly create health IT education and training programs at community colleges or expand existing programs.
   
• The Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) Program will fund research focused on achieving breakthrough advances to address well-documented problems that have impeded adoption such as security of data, network architecture and secondary use of data.

The ONC, under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services, has discharged its considerable responsibility to spur the use of healthcare information technology in a thoughtful way, one that will get the most bang for the buck and in a way that will make a meaningful difference to how patients are treated.

Great expectations? Yes. We’re confident the country is up to the task.