As we enter the second decade of the 21^st century, our healthcare system has been challenged to meet the Triple Aim of improving health care for individuals, improving health for populations and reducing healthcare costs.   Electronic health information technology is a potential solution to many of the problems that currently exist.   Electronic health records are available, more physicians are adopting them and now the federal government is incentivizing them to be used in a meaningful way. (Meaningful Use).

The question remains – how will physicians use electronic health data when they get it?  Improving health outcomes through the use of data is a transformational activity that demands an additional set of skills for physicians – not to replace or diminish traditional clinical skills but to enhance those skills as necessary to propel health care delivery into the modern age. Read the rest of this entry →