by Kate Ackerman, iHealthBeat Managing Editor

2011 was a big year for health IT. Farzad Mostashari took over as the country's fourth national coordinator for health IT. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT launched pilot projects in which health care providers and public health agencies began exchanging health information using specifications developed by the Direct Project, an "open government" initiative. The first graduates of federally funded health IT training programs hit the job market. CMS issued proposed rules designed to improve consumer access to laboratory testing results. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gave health care providers who met Stage 1 meaningful use requirements in 2011 an additional year to comply with Stage 2 criteria. More than 100,000 primary care providers -- more than one-third of primary care providers nationwide -- signed up with the 62 federally designated regional extension centers to move forward with electronic health record adoption. Medicare and Medicaid each distributed nearly $1 billion in incentive payments during the first year of the EHR system doubled from 17% in 2008 to 34% in 2011.

However, much of the U.S. health care system still exists in a paper-based world. The majority of health care providers have not yet made the leap to EHRs, citing cost, workflow and privacy as major barriers. Some health care stakeholders have raised concern that the meaningful use incentive program requirements might be unachievable for many health care providers, while others argue that the criteria do not go far enough in promoting patient-centered care.

2012 is sure to be a crucial year in the country's shift toward health IT. We asked a variety of stakeholders -- including providers, vendors, patient advocates and government officials -- to weigh in on health IT progress, disappointments and hopes for 2012.

We asked each health IT expert to answer three questions about the most significant health IT development in 2011, the biggest disappointment in the past year and how the remaining barriers to widespread health IT adoption should be addressed in 2012.

Read the full story here.