January 2020

Electronic health record systems have the potential to significantly improve care coordination and, ultimately, clinical care delivery. Still, it is clear that these systems are not silver bullets that will automatically result in better coordination of care and quality.

Machine learning models, used to predict future use of primary care services from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System, did not outperform traditional regression models.

Health systems are important in driving electronic health record adoption in ambulatory clinics, although the uptake of key functionalities varies across systems.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the journal, each issue in 2020 will include an interview with a healthcare thought leader. Because January is our annual health information technology issue, we turned to Eric Topol, MD, of Scripps Research.

This study demonstrates that it is possible to generate a highly accurate model to predict inpatient and emergency department utilization using data on socioeconomic determinants of care.

Rapidly advancing health information technologies are changing the nature of team-based care; there is a critical need to examine how trust functions in contemporary team-based care.

The authors aimed to develop a rigorous technique for predicting hospitalizations using data that are already available to most health systems.

Implementation of retail health consumer tactics in primary care poses challenges for primary care doctors that must be recognized and addressed.

This case study of 5 county-based delivery systems finds that existing specialty care relationships and information technology integration are important differentiating factors for e-consult implementation success.

Opt-in patient consent requirements for health information exchange correlate with more reported regulatory barriers, especially among less technologically advanced hospitals.

Without integrating data on the social determinants of health, the learning health system could fail to reach its mission of higher-quality, safer, and more efficient care.

In this commentary, the authors argue for moving away from state-based medical licensure and describe policy, technological, and administrative changes necessary for implementing portable medical licensure.