The purpose and role of healthcare information and management systems in the healthcare industry

The safety and quality of healthcare is of great concern in the United States, as are rapidly rising healthcare costs and limited healthcare access to millions of Americans. The positive effects of information technology have led to the wide expectation that information technology might favorably enhance quality in healthcare while reducing costs.

Recent federal and state government initiatives have the industry further down the road of establishing a robust technological infrastructure to support modern clinical and quality programs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Meaningful Use incentive program, established as a result of the Act, are spurring innovation and the implementation of technological methodologies and tools in healthcare, which otherwise might have been decades in development, instead of the few years required for compliance under new legislation. Even if there are delays and setbacks in the program, progress is bound to be faster than if the healthcare industry, conservative in the extreme, would have been left to its own devices.

The healthcare information and management systems that make up this new healthcare industry infrastructure, will also be the drivers of how we reduce costs, promote access and approach day-to-day patient care in the future.