Government accelerating health IT cash giveaway

This could be a good program, but that schedule doesn't stimulate the economy quickly.

So the government is trying to accelerate things. Its latest move is $975 million in grants to states, to state entities, to non-profits, and to training programs, all aimed at training health IT workers and paying them while they learn.

This is not just spending, of course. It makes no sense to throw money at people to do something if there aren't people trained in doing it.

But it does illustrate the flexibility the government does have, in laws already passed, to stimulate the economy and control the economic environment.

Two questions:

1. With all this stimulus money going out the door for preparing health IT investment, how much will be left to buy gear from vendors?
2. What are these people being trained on, and will that determine what hospitals and clinics find they need to buy?