UK Scraps $17 Billion Info Tech Program

Health IT may be harder to pull off than anyone thought. The United Kingdom is scrapping its $17 billion information technology program for its state-run health service. The Wall Street Journal reports that officials say some of the money has been wasted and that the program isn't fit to provide the services they need. The program was hailed as one of the biggest IT projects ever attempted and Computer Sciences Corp was one of the contractors. Other countries — including the U.S. — were watching the U.K. project to see how it would digitize and link together patient records and the entire National Health Service. Officials with Britain's Department of Health say future IT decisions will be made on a regional level, with more suppliers competing for contracts