It's not for lack of trying by the technology community, either; Intel, while far out in front of the curve, is of course not the only major vendor with dedicated healthcare efforts. Everyone smells an opportunity. Find me a tier one, in fact, who isn't a healthcare-needs-IT evangelist or doesn't sit on a healthcare alliance of some kind, extolling the importance of security upgrades, or the cost savings seen by document management solutions in healthcare settings, or the progress of SaaS and managed services in hospital enterprises.

You're right, though, Ed: where you don't hear any of this nearly as loudly as you should is in the healthcare bickering at the national level -- the town halls, etc. With all that went into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that's said to benefit healthcare -- still the sweet spot for VARs who want to get their piece of ARRA opportunity -- you'd think there'd be a bit more of a fuss.

As a former IT Director for a healthcare facility, I can attest to the reluctance to embrace newer forms of technology. I think the problem is often internal for larger organizations. You often have administrators who have been decision makers for 20+ years in some cases, and still have the mentality of IT as expenditure not as revenue generator. Yet, as Chad pointed out, there are specific technologies to increase productivity and efficency in a healthcare facility, and more importantly, can reduce errors in patient care. This all lends to increased revenue for an organization. I definitely think its the smaller, newer providers who are getting more on board. My dentist has three employees and has some of the latest and greatest technology that would put larger organizations to shame. He, of course, isn't the one doing data entry and billing---his staff does that. But he invests in technology and hires competent people that get the job done. He sees the value in tech, and does not have to convince an Administrator, other department directors, and a board that the purchase is a good idea. I also think that when we see HIPAA violators prosecuted more, that will cause more of an investment in technologies that may have been previously out of the scope of healthcare IT purchases.

You make a good point Samara, and it's one I hear from solution providers and integrators constantly: why would they enter into the red tape nightmare of a large healthcare enterprise -- with its board members, department heads, administrators and other decision makers, all with different priorities and IT needs -- when they can specialize in, say, dental practices (or other niche physician practices) or long-term care facilities and talk with smaller, newer healthcare providers who are both adaptable and interested in tech adoption? The larger facilities are just too many silos, too many headaches.

There IS opportunity for IT in healthcare, but...(there always is a but, isn't there?) It's  four-way marriage: the healtcare industry, IT, channel parnters, and the consumer. And as Kevin points out, the consumer is the bottom line.

I'm not sure government funding of digital health integration is the answer right now.  There is much opportunity but there is also much fear and misinformation on the consumer end.  Until Main Street understands the IT issues better, and gets rid of its privacy concerns, the channel will not be able to reap the opportuntiy that's out there.

Kevin is spot on: target the consumer and the mid-sized healthcare organizations in a PR blitz.