Health Care Information Systems

Today's health care providers and organizations across the continuum of care have come to depend on reliable health care information systems (HCIS) to manage their patient populations effectively while reducing costs and improving the quality of care. This chapter will explore some of the most significant influences shaping current and future HCIS in the United States. Certainly, advances in information technology affect HCIS development, but national private sector and government initiatives have played key roles in the adoption and application of the technologies in health care--