Medical informatics in the new millennium

Area of Science:

• Healthcare innovation
• Medical informatics
• Health services research

Background:

• Healthcare systems face significant social transformation.
• The evolving field of medical informatics offers guidance for healthcare reinvention.
• Investment patterns in healthcare practice highlight key application needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the role of medical informatics in reinventing healthcare.
• To identify essential technological applications for improving healthcare quality.
• To emphasize the importance of defining healthcare values in the new millennium.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of trends in medical informatics.
• Review of investment patterns in healthcare practice.
• Identification of high-priority applications such as the computerized patient record.

Main Results:

• The computerized patient record (CPR) is a top-ranked application need.
• CPR offers significant cost savings.
• CPR supports improvements in clinical quality and ambulatory care.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare reinvention requires a precise definition of values.
• Technology, particularly the CPR, is crucial for achieving quality healthcare.
• Strategic investment in medical informatics and applications like CPR is essential for future healthcare delivery.