Obama's administration is putting $19 billion toward "Health IT,"

Obama's administration is putting $19 billion toward electronic health record systems to get better treatment and inferior costs.
When Saver begins to examine his patient, however, the 56-year-old physician does something that four out of five doctors in America do not: He pulls out a computer.
The little black Toshiba, its edges worn to the bare metal, gets more use than the stethoscope and has become key to the care Saver gives his patients -- organizing medical histories, test results, prescriptions and other data that were once a jumble of paper records.

Saver's laptop, and the system behind it, put him on the cutting edge of what President Obama and many experts say is a critical step to improving the nation's healthcare system while also reining in cost.It is known as "Health IT," an idea that promises to use information technology to cut medical errors, avoid unnecessary tests and procedures and identify better treatments.

The New York system, which links more than 800 providers, also allows public health officials to quickly tap patient data to track disease outbreaks and send doctors up-to-the-minute advisories.

"There are just huge opportunities here," said Farzad Mostashari, an assistant health commissioner in New York.