From tasks to processes: the case for changing health information technology to improve health care

Abstract

To deliver better health care at a lower cost, health information technology (IT) should be redesigned to support improved, patient-centered care and not the isolated tasks of physicians and clinicians. This new approach has major policy implications: health IT can help mitigate the worsening shortages of physicians; it will require managers, clinicians, and patients to learn new skills and behaviors; it will increase the need for clinically astute systems analysts, business-process managers, and human-factors engineers; and it will highlight the need to pay for process improvements and improved patient well-being rather than the mere purchase of health IT.