Overview
The effective use of health informatics involves much more than implementation of hardware and software. It is dependent on human factors, including the development of competencies by those who would employ health informatics and the development of teamwork by information technology (IT) professionals and health professionals. Effective health informatics creates value. It is an enabler that maximizes its potential when its users work as a team to integrate health informatics with the business strategy and work processes. Already we are seeing Internet applications begin to drive down healthcare costs while improving the delivery and effectiveness of health services. This trend will continue in coming years. We are beginning to amass proof that informatics actually improves health through aiding in disease management, providing specialist support, improving patient safety, and serving as decision support for practitioners. Over the next decade, we will see many more advances in the use of technology in support of the shared missions of health care and public health to improve the life of each individual.
In the correct formulation of the question lies the key to the answer
—Nobelist Max Planck
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Peterson H. Preface. In: van Bemmel JH, McCray AT, eds. Yearbook of Medical Informatics 1999: The Promise of Medical Informatics. Stuttgart, Germany: Schattauer; 1999:1.
Lorenzi N. Preface. Proceedings of the AMIA Symposium. J Am Med Inform Assoc 1999;(Suppl):vii–viii.
Lorenzi N. The cornerstones of medical informatics. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2000;7:204–205.
Gardner R. Never fail evaluation methods. Unpublished speech at: Davies Symposium; July 9, 1998; Washington, DC.
International Medical Informatics Association. Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on Education in Health and Medical Informatics. Available at: http://www.imia.org/wgl/rec.htm. Accessed March 14, 2002.
Richards J. Public Health Informatics: A Consensus of Core Competencies [dissertation]. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin; 2000.
Strassman P. The Squandered Computer: Evaluating the Business Alignment of Information Technologies. New Canaan, CT: The Information Economics Press; 1997.
Menduno M. Prognosis: wired. Why Internet technology is the next medical break-through. Hosp Health Netw 1998;72(21):28–30, 32–35.
Turisco F. Valuing IT Investments: Justify the Purchase…Realize the Value. Long Beach, CA: First Consulting Group; 1999. Available at: http://www.fcg.com/webfiles/WhitePaper/white_paper_files/wpValueIT.asp. Accessed March 14, 2002.
First Consulting Group. Managing Healthcare Value: Strategies That Work. Long Beach, CA: First Consulting Group; 1999:33.
Naisbitt J. Aburdene P. Megatrends 2000: Ten New Directions for the 1990s. New York: William Morrow & Co; 1990.
Internet increasingly used to find health care information. Healthc Financ Manage April 1999;Vol 52(4).
Nua Internet Surveys. How many online? Available at: http://www.nua.com/surveys/how_many_online/index.html. Accessed March 14, 2002.
Silva J. Fighting cancer in the information age: An architecture for national scale clinical trials. MD Comput 1999;16:43–44.
Silva J. Informatics: NCI’s cancer informatics infrastructure. Oncology Issues. 1999;14:21–22.
Silva J, Ball M, Chute C, Douglas JV. Cancer Informatics: Essential Technologies for Clinical Trials. New York: Springer-Verlag; 2002.
First Consulting Group. Health Systems on the E-Health Path. Long Beach, CA: First Consulting Group, 2000. Available at: http://www.fcg.com/knowledge/first_reports.asp.
First Consulting Group. Health Plans on the Road to E-Health. Long Beach, CA: First Consulting Group, 2000. Available at: http://www.fcg.com/knowledge/first_reports.asp.
Anderson J. The business of Cyberhealthcare. MD Comput 1999;16:23–25.
Freudenheim M. Advice is the newest prescription for health costs. New York Times April 9, 2000;Section 1, pg. 1.
Health On the Net Foundation. Unpublished materials prepared for the HON board. Additional information available at: http://www.hon.ch/.
Rodsjo S. Prescribing information: No waiting on the Web. Healthc Inform 2000;17:132–134, 136–138, 140–141.
Ramsaroop P, Ball M. The “bank of health”: A model for more useful patient health records. MD Comput 2000;17:45–48.
Kimball-Baker K. What’s the ROInfo (return on information) in MCOs (managed care organizations)? Healthc Inform 1998;15(4):50–52, 54, 56–58.
Yamamoto H. What works. Swedish Medical Center website attracts $50,000 a month in referrals. Health Manag Technol 1999;20(3):44–45.
Institute of Medicine. Measurement tools for a community health improvement process. In: Durch J, Bailey L, Stoto M, eds. Improving Health in the Community, a Role for Performance Monitoring, Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1997;126–165.
Bringewatt R. The metamorphosis of chronic care. Healthcare’s next big hurdle. Healthc Forum J 1998;41(5):14–16, 18, 21.
Petrakos C. Finding a cure: Disease management aids the search for better outcomes. Modern Physician. September 1, 1998. Available at: http://www.modernphysician.com.
Roglieri JL, Futterman R, McDonough KL, Malya G et al. Disease management interventions to improve outcomes in congestive heart failure. Am J Manag Care 1997;3(12): 1831–1839.
Flagle C. Economic analysis of filmless radiology. In: Siegel E. Kolodner R, eds. Filmless Radiology. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1999:113–136.
Salganik W. Telemedicine business is launched by 2 doctors. Baltimore Sun, April 6, 2000, Business section Page ID.
Kohn L, Corrigan J., Donalson M, eds. To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2000.
Bates DW, O’Neil AC, Boyle D, Teich J, Chertow GM, Komaroff AL, Brennan TA. Potential identifiability and preventability of adverse events using information systems. J Am Med Inform Assoc 1994;1:404–411.
Bates DW, Spell N, Cullen DJ, Burdick E, Laird N, Petersen LA, Small SD, Sweitzer BJ, Leape LL. The costs of adverse drug events in hospitalized patients. Adverse Drug Events Prevention Study Group. JAMA 1997;277:307–311.
Kohn L, Corrigan J., Donalson M, eds. To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 2000:191.
Bates DW, Leape LL, Cullen DJ, Laird N, Petersen LA, Teich JM, Burdick E, Hickey M, Kleefield S, Shea B, Vander Vliet M, Seger DL. Effect of computerized physician order entry and a team intervention on prevention of serious medication errors. JAMA 1998;280:1311–1316.
Institute of Medicine. Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2001.
Weed LL. A preface to the 1969 edition of Medical Records, Medical Education, and Patient Care. Reprinted in: Weed LL. Knowledge Coupling: New Premises and New Tools for Medical Care and Education. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1991:316–317.
Teich JM, Wrinn MM. Clinical decision support systems come of age. MD Comput 2000;17:43–46.
Gates B. Business @ the Speed of Thought. New York: Time Warner; 1999:348–351.
Schafer K, Kline E. Williams R, Hardie B, et al. Force health protection through global medical surveillance. In: Ramsaroop P, Ball M, Beaulieu D, Douglas J, eds. Advancing Federal Sector Healthcare: A Model for Technology Transfer. New York: Springer-Verlag; 2001.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ball, M.J. (2003). Better Health Through Informatics: Managing Information to Deliver Value. In: O’Carroll, P.W., Ripp, L.H., Yasnoff, W.A., Ward, M.E., Martin, E.L. (eds) Public Health Informatics and Information Systems. Health Informatics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22745-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22745-8_3
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-3018-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-22745-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive