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The Business Value of Health Care Information Technology

Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.

Corresdpondence and reprints: Mark E. Frisse, MD, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Medical School Library, Washington University, Campus Box 8132, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110. e-mail: <frisse{at}medicine.wustl.edu >.

Received for publication: 02/01/99; accepted for publication: 05/24/99.

The American health care system is one of the world's largest and most complex industries. The Health Care Financing Administration reports that 1997 expenditures for health care exceeded one trillion dollars, or 13.5 percent of the gross domestic product. Despite these expenditures, over 16 percent of the U.S. population remains uninsured, and a large percentage of patients express dissatisfaction with the health care system. Managed care, effective in its ability to attenuate the rate of cost increase, is associated with a concomitant degree of administrative overhead that is often perceived by providers and patients alike as a major source of cost and inconvenience. Both providers and patients sense a great degree of inconvenience and an excessive amount of paperwork associated with both the process of seeking medical care and the subsequent process of paying for medical services.

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