Health Information Technology allows health care providers to collect, store, retrieve, and transfer information electronically.
Health IT applications generally fall into three categories:
- Administrative and financial systems that facilitate billing, accounting, and other administrative tasks
- Clinical systems that facilitate or provide input into the care process
- Infrastructure that supports both the administrative and clinical applications
| Administration and Financial | Clinical | Infrastucture |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Electronic Health Record | Medical Devices |
| Accounting | Picture Archiving | Servers and Networks |
| Scheduling | Laboratory Results Reporting | Wireless Networks |
| General Ledger | Clinical Decision Support Systems | Voice Recognition Systems for transcription, physician orders, and medical records |
| Personnel and Payroll | Prescription Drug Fulfillment | Bar-coding technology for drugs, medical devices, and inventory control |
| Cost Accounting System | Error-Alerting Technology | Information Security Systems |
| Patient Registration | Electronic Patient Monitoring | Handheld Technology |
| Electronic Materials Management | Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) | Desktop, Laptop, Cart-based, and Tablet Computers |
Note: Applications listed are examples and not exhaustive.