Can Electronic Medical Record Systems Transform Health Care? Potential Health Benefits, Savings, and Cost Using Latest Advancements in ICT for Better interactive Healthcare Learning

To broadly examine the potential health and financial benefits of health information technology (HIT), this paper compares health care with the use of ICT in other industries. It estimates potential savings and costs of widespread adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems, models important health and safety benefits, and concludes that effective EMR implementation and networking could eventually save more than billions annually-by improving health care efficiency and safety-and that HIT-enabled prevention and management of chronic disease could eventually double those savings while increasing health and other social benefits. However, this is unlikely to be realized without related changes to the health care system. Finally, we discuss the importance of collaboration between projects in the development of electronic medical record systems rather than reinventing systems in isolation, and the use of open standards and open source technology.