As a result of severe wounds received in World War II, I have spent many months in military hospitals, including 20 months in an Army hospital immediately after the war. I continue to use the Military Health System, as do many of my colleagues in Congress, because I firmly believe the quality of health care delivered in military and veterans hospitals is second to none. The largest system of its type in the world, the U.S. military healthcare system is undergoing changes as dramatic as those experienced by the entire country. During Desert Storm, we saw new technologies, such as telemedicine,...

Changes in health care are at a breakneck pace. Regardless of the many changes we have collectively experienced, delivering health care has been, is, and will continue to be an enormously information-intensive process. Whether caring for a patient or a population, whether managing a clinic or a continuum, we are in a knowledge exchange business. A major task for our industry, and the task for chief information officers (CIOs), is to find and apply improved strategies and technologies for managing healthcare information. In a fiercely competitive healthcare marketplace, the pressures to suc...

As health care moves from an inpatient to an outpatient delivery system, physician practice management will become more complex and accountable. To manage this change, physician practices are increasingly relying on information technology. This book follows both a patient and an employee through a physician visit, highlighting what, where, and how technology is utilized.
The first section, "Utilizing Technology to Arrange a Physician Visit," provides information and examples of technology utilized prior to the patient visit, and includes examples of physicians who utilize email and Web...