Moving Toward an e-Hospital

Abstract

Healthcare organizations, like other information intensive organizations, cannot ignore the rapid progression to a digital network economy. While some aspects of patient care must continue to be delivered locally, Internet technologies and “e-healthcare experiences” are likely to play an increasing role in the pre-delivery and post-delivery arenas. Creating the infrastructure to quickly take advantage of this paradigm shift, while adding value to the local delivery system is paramount to the long-term success of healthcare organizations. To achieve the level of data integration necessary to move to an e-hospital, the complicated web of patient data must flow automatically and instantaneously between information systems within and external to the organization. This chapter presents an overview of infrastructure issues and technologies that will enable hospitals to “plug into” the evolving e-health continuum.