Government initiatives to stimulate broader EHR use get a significant amount of attention in the health IT arena, and for good reason. Nothing has done as much to encourage EHR adoption as the federal incentive program. However, this does not mean the private sector has been without contribution.

For example, Fierce Health IT recently reported that 80 percent of physicians now use mobile devices during the course of their everyday work. This is despite the fact that the meaningful use incentive program does not specifically deal with mobile technologies.

The news source reports that this helped drive other trends, including the use of cloud-based EHR systems and remote patient monitoring tools, which were also largely the product of private sector innovations.

Officials from the ONC told Health Affairs that insurers like WellPoint and Highmark have launched their own EHR incentive programs that are intended to complement the efforts of the federal government. This type of private-public collaboration could help support higher adoption rates and put the nation on the path toward a fully networked healthcare system.