Over the past several years, increased attention has been focused on the importance of health information to health care quality improvement. The level of focus on health information has increased with the advent of electronic medical records and electronic health information systems designed to facilitate the use of health care data. Although these systems are still in their relative infancy, they hold enormous promise for revolutionizing the availability and use of health information to improve clinical performance, empower employers and consumers to better understand health plan choices and facilitate health claims administration. Their potential has been a catalyst for change in a growing number of communities, with the emergence of private/public partnerships to develop regional health information systems
