Product Review

Health informatics-the application of information technology to healthcare delivery-is changing dramatically because of federal investment in adoption, new cloud-based technologies to encourage data sharing and patient participation, and new financial incentives to encourage coordinated care. The traditional provider- and hospital-centric view of care and health information technology is morphing into one which combines electronic records with the Internet for information exchange and data from low cost mobile- and home-based devices to create a comprehensive, more holistic electronic health record of each patient's care. This text emphasizes these contemporary approaches through a focus on ambulatory care for chronic disease, arguably the major challenge for US healthcare. Contemporary Health Informatics is divided into four sections: background on the US healthcare system and federal policies intended to re-engineer it; the core technologies of health information technology; the application of these technologies in state-of-the-art real-world products and solutions; and the mining, analysis, and visualization of the vast amounts of newly available digital health data to gain knowledge and improve care delivery. Key Features Up-to-date: written within the context of current health informatics Grounded in actual practice: numerous case studies illustrate the practical applications of the technologies discussed Forward facing: based on the evolution of the healthcare system away from hospitals and toward primary and community care Written for a broad audience: based on Dr. Braunstein's MOOC that has proven successful for learners from healthcare providers to information technologists to those with numerous other health- related backgrounds and skill sets