Healthcare Informatics: Into the 21st Century

• Introduction to key aspects in healthcare informatics
• Market drivers
• Dampening factors on the development of healthcare informatics
• The different electronic channels for healthcare
• The impact of informatics on the pharmaceutical industry
• The healthcare information systems industry

Chapter 1 Introduction to key aspects in healthcare informatics

• Summary
• Introduction
  • What exactly is healthcare informatics?
  • The scope of the report
  
  
• A brief history of healthcare informatics

Chapter 2 Market drivers

• Summary
• Introduction
• Push factors—demands that IT promises to fulfil
  • Cost containment within healthcare
  • New healthcare concepts
  • The need for increased efficiency
  • Consolidation within the healthcare industry
  
  
• Pull factors—enabling technologies
  • The evolution of the healthcare industry
  • Technological advancements

Chapter 3 Dampening factors on the development of healthcare informatics

• Summary
• Introduction
• The impact of the cultural environment
  • The US
  • The UK
  • France
  • Germany
  • Spain
  • A culturalcomparison
  
  
• The security issue—protecting the patient
  • The need for anonymity
  • Anonymity as a limit to data richness
  • Providing the legislative background
  • The need for a co-ordinated long term strategy
  
  
• Technical impediments and solutions
  • Heterogeneous standards
  • Electronic signatures
  
  
• Cost limitations

Chapter 4 The different electronic channels for healthcare

• Summary
• Introduction
• Electronic patient records
  • General characteristics of electronic patient records
  • Health cards
  • Summary of EPR applications
  • Enterprise-wide medical systems
  • Network-based initiatives
  
  
• Telemedicine
  • Basic concepts
  • Technologies used
  • Possibilities within telemedicine
  
  
• Disease management
  • The concept of disease management
  • The role of pharmaceutical companies
  • Information requirements
  • Disease management as a driver in the pharmaceutical industry
  
  
• Managed care—a framework for integrated healthcare delivery
  • Characteristic features of managed care
  • The role of IT
  • Case study: Kaiser Permanente and IBM
  • The drive towards integrated healthcare delivery networks
  
  
• The Internet—a platform for cybercare?
  • A valuable tool in healthcare
  • Benefits for the different segments
  • What about the reliability?

Chapter 5 The impact of informatics on the pharmaceutical industry

• Summary
• The need to sustain profitability
  • Development of profitability within the pharmaceutical industry
  • The investment gap
  
  
• Application of informatics to the R&D process
  • Introduction
  • Improving the discovery phase with the help of IT
  • Optimising the clinical management phase
  • Accelerating the regulatory phase
  • A worked example of gains in time and money
  
  
• Benefits within other areas
  • Sales
  • Marketing
  
  
• Summary of the benefits of IT in the drug lifecycle
• Outlook for the pharmaceutical industry
  • The dawning of a new age?
  • Strategies for the future
  • A key to future success

Chapter 6 The healthcare information systems industry

• Summary
• Current technological needs
• The market segments of the healthcare information systems industry
  • Hospital information systems
  • Physician office systems
  • Payer focused systems
  • Systems operating on an enterprise-wide level
  
  
• Key players within the HIS industry
  • Strategic structure of the HIS industry
  • Company profile: HBOC—the market leader
  • Company profile:IDX—focusing on thephysician sector
  
  
• Outlook for the HIS industry
  • Current and emerging trends within the HIS industry
  • Strategies for success
  • New technological opportunities—object-oriented programming

Chapter 7 Appendix

• Primary research methodology
• Glossary
• Index

List of Tables

• Table 2.1: Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP, 1970-1997
• Table 4.2: Features of EPR systems
• Table 5.3: The use of IT in the drug lifecycle