Medical technology can outfit a patient with an artificial heart or cure vision defects with the touch of a laser. However, hospitals still struggle with their back-office processes, such as getting X-ray files from radiology on the fourth floor to the first-floor view boxes in the emergency room without having to send a runner. More than 90 percent of the estimated30 billion health transactions each year are conducted by telephone, fax, or mail. To what extent, and how, can information technology improve productivity and quality for such processes? Remember that some doctors are not ready to give up their pads and pencils, and many hospitals havestrong lines drawn around its departments, such as pharmacy, cardiology, radiology, and pediatrics.

Medical technology can outfit a patient with an artificial heart or cure vision defects with the touch of a laser. However, hospitals still struggle with their back-office processes, such as getting X-ray files from radiology on the fourth floor to the first-floor view boxes in the emergency room without having to send a runner. More than 90 percent of the estimated
30 billion health transactions each year are conducted by telephone, fax, or mail. To what extent, and how, can information technology improve productivity and quality for such processes? Remember that some doctors are not ready to give up their pads and pencils, and many hospitals have
strong lines drawn around its departments, such as pharmacy, cardiology, radiology, and pediatrics.