Clinical information systems for integrated healthcare networks

In the 1990's, a large number of hospitals and medical practices have merged to form integrated healthcare networks (IHN's). The nature of an IHN creates new demands for information management, and also imposes new constraints on information systems for the network. Important tradeoffs must be made between homogeneity and flexibility, central and distributed governance, and access and confidentiality. This paper describes key components of clinical information systems for IHN's, and examines important design decisions that affect the value of such systems.