How To: How to Improve Patient Education

The need to manage medical information in healthcare delivery requires that information technology be optimized in diagnosing diseases; in planning and administering treatment; and in monitoring patient outcomes, services, and costs. The goals of this article are twofold: (1) to identify healthcare-specific software that addresses specific parameters set forth by the World Health Organization (WHO) for healthcare information systems and (2) to identify issues that managers should keep in mind when choosing an integrated information systems software package. For our analysis, we gathered, through Internet research, information about more than 400 software products from more than 200 companies.