Community-wide information systems design: concepts and an illustration

Models for community-wide information systems design help insure the development of a health information infrastructure that supports life-long, community-centric, patient focused care. Collaborating with community health planning groups provides a reasonable starting point for such endeavors. We review existing approaches to community-based information systems design, draw design principles from the experiences of past innovations, and describe our team's experience in partnering with a community health planning group to establish a community-wide design approach to information systems design. Key themes include (1) partnerships; (2) brokering and integrating existing initiatives; and (3) creating business models for sustainability