ABSTRACT
As the cost of health care has become a larger percentage of the gross domestic product of many developed nations, the focus on methods to improve health care productivity and quality has increased. To address this need, the concept of a health care information infrastructure has emerged. Major elements of this concept include patient-centered care facilitated by computer-based patient record systems, continuity of care enabled by the sharing of patient information across information networks, and outcomes measurement aided by greater availability and specificity of health care information.
