title: Integrated care needs integrated information management and technology.
abstract: Integrated care entails that professionals from different organizations have to work together in a team-oriented way to provide high-quality care for a patient. This requires that healthcare professionals share information about--and with--patients at appropriate points in the care or treatment process. The necessary infrastructural arrangements--such as shared patient records, regional collaboration and a clear, transparent incentive structure--must be in place. It is increasingly hard to imagine integrative initiatives without a strong information management and technology component. However, information is a necessary condition but not sufficient to achieve integrated care; organizational change is the more critical component.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Protti
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D019090:Case Management; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000458:organization & administration; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018166:Health Care Reform; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D006801:Humans; D019451:Information Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D007256:Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000379:methods; D018511:Systems Integration; D014481:United States