title: EHR and the real meaning of technology adoption.
abstract: When we seek to transform healthcare delivery through deploying EHR we are doing something quite different from merely gaining efficiency or attempting to save costs. We are transforming how patients manage disease and a healthy life. It is helpful to look to the history of medicine and informatics and then turn to voices in the field to get a clearer idea of what kind of occasion EHR adoption may represent. Automating care through systems challenges an organization's ability to broker flows of complex information, people, and efficiencies that may serve many masters other than clinical. As EHR systems are adopted with the hope of improved patient outcomes, such systems will allow for new administrative power that will have unintended effects for how and who determines the future boundaries of health.
authors.affiliation: Sappington & Associates. RodneyS@sappington-associates.com
authors.forename: Rodney W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Sappington
mesh_terms: D001292:Attitude to Computers; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011872:Radiology Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States