ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses various ways in which new technologies are being used in healthcare in the United States. It focuses on how information systems promote patient care and how technology promotes information seeking, sharing, and personal health management. The chapter also discusses concerns related to the translation and adoption of these technologies, as well as some of the opportunities that these new technologies offer. Health information exchanges allow patients and providers to share health information through a digital medium. The most visible example of this type of information exchange in our country today is the electronic health record, which will soon be a part of most clinics as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Telemedicine is a specific kind of health information technology in which technology is used to facilitate clinical care when the patients and the providers are separated by a long distance.
