The Information Technology Fix for Health
Barriers and Pathways to the Use of Information Technology for Better Health Care
A constellation of new health-related activities and technologies, validated by clinical research and starting to roll out into medical practice, holds the promise of better health for everyone. These activities exploit the astonishing miniaturization of ever-more powerful devices, along with the collection, analysis, and sharing of data, to support better coordination and delivery of health care. Interest in these innovations is driven by the health care system’s pressing need to:
- Control chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension to prevent progression and complications
- Find more effective and less intrusive treatments for a range of diseases, and do so faster
- Lower system-wide costs, or at least staunch the rate of increase
- Reduce medical errors and misdiagnoses
- Improve patients’ sense of control over their care and their destiny
- Ease stress on practitioners and caregivers
- Sweep away some of the administrative and bureaucratic load
What are the promises of the new technologies, and what conditions have to be in place to enjoy those benefits? Why do some technologies seem to languish despite their apparent advantages? How do all these things depend on each other, and what technologies and activities need to be adopted in tandem?
The large trends in these groundbreaking approaches—as well as the things that stand in their way—form the subjects ...
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