1 Toward a State-wide Health Information Technology Center: Key Features and Functions (Unabridged version) Dean F. Sittig, PhD 1 and John C. Joe, MD, MPH 1,2,3 1 School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 2 Department of Family & Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 3 President, Harris County Academy of Family Physicians, TX Citation: Sittig DF, Joe JC. Toward a statewide health information technology center (abbreviated version). South Med J. 2010 Nov;103(11):1111-4. doi: 10.1097/SMJ.0b013e3181f680f4 Address for correspondence: Dean F. Sittig, Ph.D. UT - Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality & Safety University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston 6410 Fannin St. UTPB 1100.43 Houston, TX 77030 Work: 713-500-7977 Fax: 713-500-0766 Email: dean.f.sittig@uth.tmc.edu Financial Disclosure: Dr. Sittig receives support from a contract from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (90RC006401) to support the Texas Gulfcoast HITECH Regional Extension Center. Proprietary Statement: Neither, Dr. Sittig nor Dr. Joe has any commercial or proprietary interest in any drug, device, or equipment mentioned in the submitted article. Neither has any financial interest (as a consultant, stock owner, employee, evaluator, etc) in any item mentioned in the article. Acknowledgements: We acknowledge the encouragement and support of Jack W. Smith, MD, PhD, Dean of the School of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Kim Dunn, MD, PhD, Director of the Gulf Coast Regional Health Information Technology Extension Center.