Will health care IT drop the ball?

Indianapolis finds itself smack in the middle of a big national trend, thanks to President Obama’s stimulus package.

The stimulus allocates $31 billion to help doctors wire their offices to send information digitally, with the goal of improving health care and driving down costs.

As IBJ reporter J.K. Wall wrote this week, Indianapolis is about as well-positioned as can be expected. For years, hospitals and the locally headquartered Regenstrief Institute have been sharing medical records and health information.

So, the area has a wealth of knowledge. But leadership could easily slip away. Massachusetts, Tennessee and Hawaii all are pushing hard.

Indianapolis has a mixed history in pouncing on new ideas. Local car companies went under during the Depression after persisting with expensive luxury brands at a time Henry Ford was driving down costs with the assembly line. Yet, few cities are as scrappy when it comes to fighting for sporting events.

Which face of Indianapolis will we see with health care informatics?