Given high rates of EHR implementation currently taking place, secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is encouraged and believes the nation is on the right track for achieving a fully networked healthcare system, she said at a recent conference.

Citing recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sebelius said that provider adoption has increased from 17 percent in 2009 to 34 percent currently, according to RTT News. Her comments were delivered at the 2011 mHealth Summit.

"That is a sea change in a very short period of time," Sebelius said, according to the news source. She added that President Barack Obama and the rest of the administration is strongly behind efforts to encourage providers to adopt EHRs, as the technology is expected to play an important role in lower costs and improving healthcare outcomes.

The healthcare industry may be set up for significant gains in EHR adoption rates in the near future as well, as the same CDC survey cited by secretary Sebelius also indicated that 52 percent of office-based physicians are currently planning on transitioning to the technology.