Health information technology (health IT) that facilitates the secure, efficient and effective sharing and use of electronic health information when and where it is needed is an important contributor to improving health outcomes, improving health care quality and lowering health care costs – the three overarching aims that the U.S. is striving to achieve. Health IT can help health care providers recommend treatments that are better tailored to an individual’s preferences, genetics and concurrent treatments; it can help individuals make better treatment decisions and health-impacting decisions outside of the care delivery system; and can help reduce care delivery redundancy and cost by allowing test results to be reused while supporting analyses to pinpoint waste. To achieve this, however, the health IT community must expand its focus beyond institutional care delivery and health care providers, to a broad view of person-centered health. This shift is critical for at least two reasons:
1. Health care is being transformed to deliver care and services in a person-centered manner and is increasingly provided through community and home-based services that are less costly and more convenient for individuals and caregivers
2. Most determinants of health status are social and are influenced by actions and encounters that occur outside traditional institutional health care delivery settings, such as in employment, retail, education and other settings. Read More >>