2011 was a big year for the use of electronic health records and other health IT, as a number of recent reports have detailed the growth in interest in the technologies that occurred last year. However, one new report underscores how the success of 2011 may set the industry up for continued expansion.

Mercom Capital Group recently released the results of an analysis that indicated that the health IT arena took in nearly half a billion dollars in venture capital in 2011. This is a significant increase over the previous year.

"2011 was a great year for healthcare IT companies in terms of financial activity. Almost half a billion dollars came into the sector through venture capital investment compared to $211 million in 2010," said Raj Prabhu, managing partner at the firm.

The findings of the report may indicate that the financial sector believes that the health IT industry is poised for continued strong growth throughout the year ahead and beyond. The growing use of EHRs among physicians may be one of the largest considerations in this projection.