If there's one sector where the prognosis for IT looks good these days, it's healthcare. The federal government's twin initiatives of economic recovery and healthcare reform are channeling some hefty funds into IT and IT training.  

Federal funding for health IT is slated to create as many as 50,000 jobs in the next five years, Computerworld's Lucas Mearian reports. Some funds are being channeled into education grants to encourage students to pursue careers in health IT, while other funding is being used to train IT workers for regional help centers in 60 locations. These regional centers are partnerships between the private sector and government, designed to assist healthcare operations in rural areas deploy electronic records.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, hospitals and physicians receiving Medicare reimbursements are eligible for incentive payments if they show that they are "meaningful users" of electronic health record technologies. If they don't do so by 2015, they face financial penalties.

At the same time, the recently enacted healthcare reform law is expected to drive considerable investment in software and hardware.  According to a study by market intelligence firm INPUT, implementing the law will require governments at the federal, state and local levels to spend more than $5 billion on IT. As reported by CIO Update, major investments likely will be in the areas of electronic health record technology, medical technology such as diagnostic equipment, business IT such as billing systems, and technology for managing reform initiatives. There will also be new opportunities for more traditional IT providers, including upgrading government systems, developing call centers and designing web portals.

For more:
- see Lucas Mearian's article at Computerworld
- see the CIO Update article

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