Healthcare Infostructures: The Development of Information-Based Infrastructures for the Healthcare Industry

by The DIebold Institute for Public Policy Studies, Inc.

Overview

This second volume to result from the Diebold Institute Infostructure Project focuses on the roles that information-based technology can play in improving our society's overall health and well-being and in solving the major current and anticipated future problems of the cost and quality of and access to health care. The work outlines the general problem of healthcare in the U.S. and then examines the possibilities and problems inherent in developing and implementing healthcare infostructures. Also provided are expert policy analyses comparing medical information systems in the U.S. with those in Japan and Europe. This book will be crucial to an understanding of the future potential of information systems in America's healthcare sector.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275951573
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/30/1995
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

The Diebold Institute

The contributors represent the specialties of comparative health services research, biomedical informatics, and preventive medicine. Most are from universities and research institutions in the U.S., the Netherlands, and Tokyo. Institutions represented include Erasmus Univ and Stanford.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables
Preface
Introduction
Healthcare Infostructures: Possibilities and Problems
Policy Analyses
Information-Based Medical Infrastructures in Europe
Information Systems in Japanese Healthcare
Appendix A: Selected Implementations of Healthcare Infostructures
Appendix B: The Jackson Hole Initiatives for a Twenty-first Century American Health System
Bibliography
Acronyms
Index

Editorial Reviews

2 Stars from Doody

Coulds and shoulds. This book is really two. The first 52-page section takes a critical, and sometimes too simplistic swipe at the American Health Care System. It is replete with ^^coulds^^ and ^^shoulds^^ that gets very tiresome. The reader will often agree with the author's statements but will question many of the assumptions, especially those that predict ultimate benefit to society. ^^Yea, but...^^ statements filled the borders of my book. The second section, on the other hand, is a very interesting collection of three monographs prepared by Drs. Harry Wetzler, Jan van Bemmel, Aki Yoshikawa, and Koichi Ishikawa. These describe specific situations in which progress is being attempted to build healthcare information-based infrastructures in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. These sections bring a dose of reality to the reader. Each monograph demonstrates the unique problems facing the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Despite differences the principle objectives are (1) to develop integrated comprehensive clinical databases and (2) ensure this information is publicly available to help many constituents make decisions. It is targeted at policymakers, researchers, educators, and students of healthcare systems. The appendixes are helpful, but Appendix A didn't provide addresses or contact sources. Appendix B is the seminal Jackson Hole Initiative document by Paul Ellwood, Alain Enthoven, and Lynn Etheredge. What is most distressing is that I could not find any Web presence of the Diebold Institute for Public Policy Studies or the Health Outcomes Institute. This is remarkable considering the consistent call for public dissemination and interchange of information described repeatedly in thisbook. This is a perfect example of proponents not living by their own words and illustrates one of the reasons for the lack of progress in integrating healthcare information.

David A. Voran

The second volume emerging from a study to assess information- based technology in societal infrastructures and encourage policy changes to further it. After constructing a suitable framework by describing health care in the US and the causes and solutions of its problems, discusses the function and development of information infrastructures, their potential, barriers to implementing them, and the need for public-private cooperation. The policy analysis proposes a market-oriented approach and compares it to systems in Europe and Japan. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Reviewer: David A. Voran, MD (University of Kansas School of Medicine)
Description: Coulds and shoulds. This book is really two. The first 52-page section takes a critical, and sometimes too simplistic swipe at the American Health Care System. It is replete with "coulds" and "shoulds" that gets very tiresome. The reader will often agree with the author's statements but will question many of the assumptions, especially those that predict ultimate benefit to society. "Yea, but..." statements filled the borders of my book. The second section, on the other hand, is a very interesting collection of three monographs prepared by Drs. Harry Wetzler, Jan van Bemmel, Aki Yoshikawa, and Koichi Ishikawa. These describe specific situations in which progress is being attempted to build healthcare information-based infrastructures in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. These sections bring a dose of reality to the reader.
Purpose: Each monograph demonstrates the unique problems facing the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Despite differences the principle objectives are (1) to develop integrated comprehensive clinical databases and (2) ensure this information is publicly available to help many constituents make decisions.
Audience: It is targeted at policymakers, researchers, educators, and students of healthcare systems.
Features: The appendixes are helpful, but Appendix A didn't provide addresses or contact sources. Appendix B is the seminal Jackson Hole Initiative document by Paul Ellwood, Alain Enthoven, and Lynn Etheredge.
Assessment: What is most distressing is that I could not find any Web presence of the Diebold Institute for Public Policy Studies or the Health Outcomes Institute. This is remarkable considering the consistent call for public dissemination and interchange of information described repeatedly in this book. This is a perfect example of proponents not living by their own words and illustrates one of the reasons for the lack of progress in integrating healthcare information.

Doody's Review Service