Health Informatics in the Real World

Abstract

In this chapter, we begin a discussion of the key informatics tools needed to power a Learning Healthcare System. These include electronic records for both providers and patients as well as information sharing technologies to bind them together. There are two similar terms used to describe these records. Electronic medical records (EMRs) are best thought of as “the standard medical and clinical data gathered in one provider’s office”. In the early days of clinical information systems, before data sharing was feasible creating the EMR, as defined, was the goal. The newer term is Electronic Health Record (EHR) and it contains a complete record of a patient’s care across all providers. Increasingly, with the growth of mHealth (mobile health), it may also contain data contributed by the patients using mobile apps or wearable or other devices in the home.