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There is a tendency to focus on the individual companies that have competed for ATP awards -- when what really matters is the benefit to the economy as a whole. Criteria for individual projects and for focused programs make it very clear that NIST is seeking to promote industry's ability to make technologically challenging efforts that will have broad economic impacts. The benefits will accrue not just to individual ATP participants but to entire industrial sectors and the economy as a whole.
The ATP focused program in Information Infrastructure for Healthcare is a case in point. The ATP will help industry lay the foundation for the more efficient use of computer technology in doctors' offices, hospitals, and clinics by cost sharing with industry the development of innovative new enabling technologies -- technologies that will allow the medical community to reduce paperwork, improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment, and bring better medical care to rural areas. This program includes, for example, figuring out ways to transfer complex medical records instantly from one facility to another even though those facilities use different record formats and different computer systems. The beneficiaries of this ATP focused program extend well beyond the individual companies and consortia that are cost sharing and conducting the research. If the technical challenges can be overcome, the benefits will reverberate throughout the economy and the beneficiaries will be our entire citizenry, which ultimately picks up the $1 trillion annual tab for medical spending. A full 20 percent of today's healthcare costs is related to the processing of information, and information technology will be an important ingredient for reducing those costs by many billions of dollars.