Tim's WhatMatters Blog 

Manufacturing has been investing in IT longer than most any sector, and not surprisingly, saw its productivity grow almost 60% faster over the past 20 years than the economy as a whole. I am not an economist, but as a healthcare guy, finding myself again right at the beginning stage of an IT investment boom, I would suggest there are some long view lessons we can learn from our industry brethren who went 20 years before us. The idea that healthcare IT can, and will, lower costs makes too much logical sense.

One camp views every dollar of cost the same - a dollar no longer in my pocket - and make no distinction about the type of expenditure it is- operating expense, investments to maintain or to build new value, etc. That is a problem. Cheap is not always the least expensive option. It all depends on how you look at it.