4 pages. Excerpt: Many policymakers, health professionals and other stakeholders envision health information technology (HIT) primarily as a cost-saving tool. Other analysts, however, believe that the main importance of HIT lies in its potential for improving health care quality and reducing health care disparities. HIT as a tool to enhance quality, patient safety and efficiency appears in the campaign platforms of the presidential candidates and in analyses and reports by the Congressional Budget Office, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and others.  MORE >>