From Hospital Information Systems to Health Information Systems - Problems, Challenges, Perspectives

Objectives: Hospital information systems are evolving towards health information systems. This article aims at identifying both proven benefits and critical issues, and at discussing problems and possible solutions. Methods: Reports on HIS successes and failures were analyzed, and core challenges were identified. These challenges are discussed against state of the art solutions. Results: In spite of demonstrated benefits, there are more severe problems than reports on successes suggest. Among today’s core problems are integration, human-computer interaction, socio-technical issues, and support of processes. Conclusions: Significant efforts of all parties involved in the health care process are needed to improve, implement, and evaluate the concepts described.