The Working Group 5 of the International Medical Informatics Associa- tion (IMIA) is dedicated to information systems in primary care with special emphasis on computer systems in the doctor's office. Accord- ingly, a conference was held in Hannover in 1980 where the first ap- proaches were described and experiences in system analysis, system construction and evaluation were discussed (Rienhoff, O. and Abrams, M.E. (eds.): The Computer in the Doctor's Office, North-Holland, Amsterdam: 1980). Computer hardware and software development has been rapid over the last years. Thus the prerequisites...

The Working Group 5 of the International Medical Informatics Associ- ation (IMIA) dedicates its work to information systems in primary and ambulatory care. The first conference of this Working Group in Hanno- ver in 1980 produced a review of the state of the art of that time and gave perspectives for future development (Rienhoff, O. and Abrams, M.E. (eds.): The Computer in the Doctor's Office, Horth- Holland, Amsterdam: 1980). In the meantime, a rapid development has taken place. Therefore it seemed appropriate to hold another working conference which was con- ducted in Munich, December 2-6,...