Local health department adoption of electronic health records and health information exchanges and its impact on population health.

Objective: To determine the impact in the adoption of electronic health records and health information exchanges by local health departments on population health.

Methods: The study analyzed 433 local health departments population-based data across 433 counties in the United States. Controlling for high school graduation rate, percentage of adults with some post- secondary education, race, median household income, percentage rural, population size served, governance structure of local health departments and revenue, the study used multiple linear regression to analyze the impact in the adoption of health information technology by local health departments on the population health of a county.

Utilizing telemedicine in oncology settings: Patient favourability rates and perceptions of use analysis using Chi-Square and neural networks.

Background: Telemedicine is an alternative to traditional face-to-face doctor-patient office visits. Although telemedicine is becoming more prevalent, few studies have looked at the perceived favorability rate among patients utilizing telemedicine over the traditional office visit to a provider's office considering data samples from more than 5 clinics in northern Louisiana.

Objective: This study aims to measure patient favorability of using telemedicine to receive care.

EHR implementation in a new clinic: a case study of clinician perceptions.

Driven by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act large numbers of physicians and hospitals are now implementing electronic health records (EHR) with the general expectation that such systems will improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care services. Studies of conversions from paper to electronic records paint a mixed picture with healthcare providers pleased with some aspects of their EHRs but dissatisfied with others. These prior studies focused on conversions from paper to electronic records.

Mitigating error vulnerability at the transition of care through the use of health IT applications.

Adverse drug events are largely considered to be errors in which the severity of effects could be lessened or even prevented through more effective medication reconciliation practices. Transitions of care, particularly at the time of discharge from the hospital, represent a time of heightened error vulnerability that contributes to medication discrepancy occurrences. The observed vulnerability can be attributed to communication and care continuity gaps across health care settings and can often lead to preventable errors.