Health Information Technology

Advancing Personalized Health Care Through Health Information Technology: An Update from the American Health Information Community's Personalized Health Care Workgroup. J. Glaser, D. Henley, G. Downing, et al., Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 15(4):July/August 2008, 391-396. Discusses the findings of the Workgroup as to what is needed to promote standard reporting and incorporation of medical genetic/genomic tests and family history data in electronic health records. (AHRQ 08-R086)

Decisionmaker Briefs. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. August 2008, 2 pp each. Describes outcomes and best practices from AHRQ-funded projects in various topic areas.
Bar-Coded Medication Administration. (AHRQ 08-0085)
Chronic Disease Management. (AHRQ 08-0084)
Computerized Provider Order Entry. (AHRQ 08-0093)
Telehealth. (AHRQ 08-0045)

Getting to "Smart" Health Care. C. Clancy, Health Affairs 25: November 2006, w589-592. Discusses the concept of comparative effectiveness research and the role of health information technology in providing timely information about the comparative effectiveness of various health care services. (AHRQ 07-R025)

Information Gap: Can Health Insurer Personal Health Records Meet Patients' and Physicians' Needs? J. Grossman, T. Zayas-Caban, N. Kemper, Health Affairs 28(2):March/April 2009, 377-389. Describes the benefits and challenges to patients and physicians of using personal health records maintained by insurers. (AHRQ 09-R044)

Introduction to the JGIM Special Issue on Health Information Technology. C. Clancy, J. White, Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(4):April 2008, 353-354. Provides an introduction to a special issue of the journal on the use of health IT to improve health care quality and safety. (AHRQ 08-R075)

Investing in Health Information Infrastructure: Can It Help Achieve Health Reform? C. Clancy, K. Anderson, P. White, Health Affairs 68(2):March/April 2009, 478-482. Identifies some near- and long-term steps that could increase the likelihood of achieving high-value health care with the aid of health information technology. (AHRQ 09-R045)

Moving Closer to a Rapid-Learning Health Care System. J. Slutsky, Health Affairs 26(2): January 2007, w122-124. Discusses activities that are necessary for developing a rapid-learning health system—that is, a system in which we "learn while doing." (AHRQ 07-R040)

The Public Role in Promoting Child Health Information Technology. P. Conway, P. White, C. Clancy, Pediatrics 123(Suppl):January 2009, S125-S127. Discusses the unique aspects of health information technology that addresses children's needs and the effective adoption of such technology to enhance health care quality for children. (AHRQ 09-R038)

Redesigning Care Processes Using an Electronic Health Record: A System's Experience. J. Brokel, M. Harrison, Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety 35(2):February 2009, 82-92. Discusses the experiences of one large health system in implementing a systemwide electronic health record to promote process redesign and continuous quality improvement. (AHRQ 09-R036)

Unintended Consequences of Information Technologies in Health Care—An Interactive Sociotechnical Analysis. M. Harrison, R. Kopel, S. Bar-Lev, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 14:2007, 542-549. Develops and illustrates a conceptual model of interactions between health information technology (HIT) and a health care organization's sociotechnical system—including its workflow, culture, social interactions, and technologies—and discusses some unanticipated consequences that only become evident during HIT implementation. (AHRQ 08-R008)

Many other publications on health IT topics—including electronic health records, electronic prescribing, health IT in small and rural communities, health information exchange, and telehealth—can be found at www.healthit.ahrq.gov.

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