title: Point and click. (If only it were that easy.).
abstract: Along with tight reimbursement and confounding regulations, any list of big headaches for health care leaders includes information technology. We've been promised so much from IT for so long, and have been disappointed so many times, who can blame us for being skeptical, if not downright cynical? When is the last time an investment in information technology actually improved your bottom line? But we know we can't dismiss IT altogether. At the end of the rainbow there really is efficiency, security and better care for patients. So how close are we? In this issue, H&HN takes a hard look at technology--what it can do for us today and tomorrow. We look at return on investment, examining whether hospitals are measuring what they get back against what they put in; a budding effort to bring a common platform to health care IT; handheld computers; electronic medical records; and computerized physician order entry. The technology is out there, but it's fair to ask: is it really clicking yet?
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haugh
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Gearon
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Serb
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.forename: Dagmara
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scalise
mesh_terms: D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards; D016287:Computer Peripherals; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007449:Investments; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D018511:Systems Integration; D013672:Technology / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States