Final answer:
Health informatics formalization stems from efficiency needs, tech advances, and policy developments fostered by research funding and intellectual property incentives. Privacy concerns and health education improvements play significant roles in its evolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
The formalization of health informatics as a recognized discipline was largely dependent on the integration of various factors, including the need for efficiency in healthcare delivery, advancements in technology, and incentives created through intellectual property rights and patents. An aging and increasingly unhealthy population resulted in demand spikes, leading to consolidation of providers in the 1990s and the rise of new healthcare delivery models such as telemedicine. At the same time, healthcare advancements were often linked to governmental or university-funded research, with public goods like sanitation and immunization programs playing a key role in public health improvements.
Concerns about privacy of electronic health records and the balance between treatment costs, patient quality of life, and individual privacy have spurred the development of policies in health informatics. Moreover, improved health education and literacy were crucial in empowering individuals to make better health decisions, thus reducing health disparities.