The intricate machinery of our health care system can no longer grasp the threads of experience… Too often, payers, physicians, and health care executives do not share common insights into the life of the patient… The health care system has become an organism guided by misguided choices; it is unstable, confused, and desperately in need of a central nervous system that can help it cope with the complexities of modern medicine.

Patient record improvement could make major contributions to improving the health care system of this nation. A 1991 General Accounting Office (GAO) report on automated medical records identified three major ways in which improved patient records could benefit health care (GAO, 1991). First, automated patient records can improve health care delivery by providing medical personnel with better data access, faster data retrieval, higher quality data, and more versatility in data display. Automated patient records can also support decision making and quality assurance activities and provide clinical reminders to assist in patient care. Second, automated patient records can enhance outcomes research programs by electronically capturing clinical information for evaluation. Third, automated patient records can increase hospital efficiency by reducing costs and improving staff productivity.