Money and how to get it was top priority to Healthcare IT News readers as they identified the biggest stories of 2009.

The headline of the year was the news of President Barack Obama’s pledge to make all American medical records electronic within five years. The story outlined Obama’s plans for an economic recovery package that includes $10 billion a year over five years to promote healthcare IT adoption.

“As a federal mandate, EHRs will impact nearly every American’s healthcare,” said James Owen, of the Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Arizona.

According to the story, the adoption of information technology was front and center in Obama’s plan to lower costs and increase medical safety in the healthcare industry.

“If the U.S. medical community actually implements EHRs, it will be a huge step forward for patient safety. Since there are now stimulus dollars attached, I have seen far more interest in implementation,” said Mary Gray, St. Vincent’s Health Care in Carmel,  Ind. 

“Incentives are the only way we will reach critical mass in healthcare’s adoption of the EMR, everywhere patients are cared for,” added Debbie Pronitis, Texas Health Resource, Arlington, Texas.

President Obama made more headlines in February when he signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law and included provisions to help spur the adoption of healthcare IT.

A story detailing what ARRA really meant for healthcare providers grabbed the spotlight for the second biggest story of the year. The story gave providers five key areas on which to focus their IT projects in order to benefit from federal incentives. Providers were urged to focus on “ready-to-go healthcare IT projects” that prevented medical mistakes, provided better patient care, promoted preventative care, evaluated the most cost-effective healthcare treatments and drove cost-savings efficiencies.

Rich Egan, director of medical imaging at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, N.C., said the story showed “where healthcare IT is going and where to spend your capital dollars.”

Healthcare IT News reader Patricia Putignano agreed. ”Allowing people the opportunity to understand where these dollars are being spent is huge. A lot of people are reluctant to change. It is by word, whether written or spoken that will allow others to understand what this is about.”