“The government funding has made a huge difference,” Dr. Ashish Jha, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, told The Times. “But we’re seeing little evidence so far that all this technology has had much effect on quality and costs.”

The tales from the dark side of putting those systems in place were myriad, as IT struggled with HR to overcome privacy concerns that blocked compliance with emerging health records laws. Many health care providers believe that they never will recoup the money they invested in the systems, and they certainly can’t retrieve the endless hours they spent trying to get their systems to function properly.

The current demand on the industry — that data be seamlessly shared electronically — has also been met with resistance and a noted lack of success. And the potential for economic explosion once predicted for digital health aids, or “wearables,” has yet to detonate into measurable contributions to the health care sector.

Yet, The Times suggests, the jury may still be out on whether the computer age will leave its economic watermark on American history. Even the medical field may yet unlock the key to economic deliverables from technology. And if not, says a Tennessee physician interviewed by The Times, technology has at least improved people’s health. “My patients are better served,” he says. “And I’m happier.”