" Implementing an Electronic Health Record System addresses the range of issues and opportunities that implementing an electronic health records system (EHR) poses for any size of medical organization - from the small one-man operation to a large healthcare system. The book is divided into sections on preparation, support, implementation and a summary and prospects section, enabling the clinician to define the framework necessary to implement and evaluate a clinically effective EHR system. With the increasing involvement of clinicians in the day-to-day running of the practice, interest is now focused on EHR as a key area for improving clinical efficiency. This book uniquely provides the guidance a clinical team needs to plan and execute an effective EHR system within any clinical setting. "

" This book consists of presentations made at the conference held on May 14-15, 2002 at the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA, by professionals from clinical areas, health care management, payer institutions, information technology industry, government and health care quality research. Chapters are a cross-section of various business perspectives of health information technologies. Together, they discuss the challenges facing the widespread implementation of information technology, possible solutions to economic, structural, cultural, and institutional barriers in the use of these technologies and present real-world examples of innovative information technologies that can be used as business models of applied clinical and business solutions to improve health care quality. "

" Not only will healthcare investments in information technology (IT) continue, they are sure to increase. Just as other industries learned over time how to extract more value from IT investments, so too will the healthcare industry, and for the same reason: because they must. This article explores the types of business value IT has generated in other industries, what value it can generate in healthcare, and some of the barriers encountered in achieving that value. The article ends with management principles for IT investment. "

" Information technology (IT) such as computerized physician order entry, computer-based decision support and alerting systems, and electronic prescribing can reduce medical errors and improve the quality of health care. However, the business value of these systems is frequently questioned. At present a number of barriers exist to realizing the potential of IT to improve quality of care. Some of these barriers are: the ineffectiveness of existing error reporting systems, low investment in IT infrastructure, legal impediments to reforms, and the difficulty in demonstrating a sufficient return on investment to justify expenditures for quality improvement. This paper provides an overview of these issues, a framework for considering business models, and examples of successful implementations of IT to improve quality of patient care. "

" When we think about health care IT, we don't just think about clinical automation with the movement to computerized physician order entry (CPOE), but also the need to upgrade legacy financial and administrative systems to interact with clinical systems. Technology acceptance by physicians remains low, and computer use by physicians for data entry and analysis remains minimal. We expect this trend to change, and expect increased automation to represent gradual change. The HCIT space is dynamic, with many opportunities, but also many challenges. The unique nature of the end market buyers, existing business models, and nature of the technology makes this a challenging but dynamic area for equity investment. "

" The health care industry is in crisis. From patient safety concerns to wasteful operations to overburdened workforces, health care is ripe for reinvention. In "Health Care Information Technology: Better Care, Better Business," Glenn Tobin discusses the aspects of health care in need of transformation; the reasons why health care information technology is the right solution; and the benefits to be realized from implementing IT. "

" Preventable medical errors occur with alarming frequency in US hospitals. Questions to address include what is a medical error, what errors occur most often, and what solutions can health information technologies offer with better documentation. Preventable injuries caused by mismanagement of treatment happen in all areas of care. Some result from human fallibility and some from system failures. Most errors stem from a combination of the two. Examples of combination errors include wrong-site surgeries, scrambled laboratory results, medication mishaps, misidentification of patients, and equipment failures. Unavailable patient information and illegible handwriting lead to diagnosing and ordering errors. Recent technology offers viable solutions to many of these medical errors. Computer-based medical records, integration with the pharmacy, decision support software, Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems, and bar coding all offer ways to avoid tragic treatment outcomes. Persuading and training hospital staff to use the technology poses a problem, as does budgeting for the new equipment. However, the technology would prove its worth in time. The Institute of Medicine and coalition groups such as Leapfrog Group have recognized the problem that permeates the health care industry, manifests in many ways, and requires the many solutions that information technology offer. "

" Although information technology is utilized successfully in many industries, its use in health care-and home health care in particular--continues to lag. This column summarizes a recent article by Bakken and Hripcsak (2004) examining the potential for informatics to improve patient care quality in home health care by supporting evidence-based practices and patient safety. The authors provide definitions of the basic components of an informatics infrastructure e.g., data mining, digital sources of evidence, etc.--and recommend how to make an informatics infrastructure for the home health care industry a reality. Suggestions include: (1) integrating informatics into education and training; (2) creating public/private partnerships among government agencies, vendors, and industry associations; and (3) performing cost-effective analyses to determine the optimal uses of specific technologies. "