Nowhere will the Digital Revolution have greater personal impact than in the delivery of health care. SIGMED presents a panel of experts who explore the efforts now underway to leverage digital technologies to improve the quality of health care, improve access, and enable patients to be more involved in maintaining their own health status.
             Health care consumers generally find the only evidence of computer use is the bill they receive at the end of the process. Health care providers in primary care practice find few computer based tools to assist them in caring for their patients. Only health care administrators, who heavily utilize data processing tools to manage health care delivery, readily perceive the indispensable benefits that information gathering and analysis bring their enterprises. The Digital Revolution will see medical care move from making only partial use of computer capabilities to making aggressive use of information analysis and communications to meet the nations health care needs and expectations.
             Panelists will discuss major efforts being undertaken in health care delivery, including issues involving provider education, information capture and analysis, and information delivery. Future health care information systems will be important everywere that people seek care: in clinicians' offices, in wellness centers, or in their homes. These systems will underline the economic nature of medical information itself. Once collected reliably and aggregated across significant populations, health care information will be an essential asset for planning and delivering care. Acquiring and selling health care information will be an important industry, and one that will make information security and confidentiality a major issue. The society will benefit, however, from a narrowing of the care quality gap that exists between those served at major medical centers and those seeking care at small, remote locations. By delivering n...