“Closing the loop” is an important concept in coordination of health care, which refers to good communication between referring physicians and those clinicians who receive the referrals. Much needless healthcare cost results from a poorly coordinated and fragmented healthcare delivery system, where duplication of testing...

In order that Electronic Health Record(EHR) systems meet the needs of pediatricians, several core functionalities need to be included. Children have unique health care needs and their providers have unique data needs.

Increasingly, physicians are considering moving their practices from paper to an Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform. Many factors weigh in this trend – advances in technology making such EHR tools more usable; a higher profile (and therefore an increased awareness) of EHRs seen in trade...

Last winter, we reviewed a study by Hardeep Singh and colleagues which revealed that office-based physicians affiliated with the DeBakey VA in Houston failed to act on 8% of the clinically significant abnormal lab test results they received. More than 25% of these results triggered...

Secure, web-based patient–provider communication tools are dedicated systems designed to support patient–provider and provider–provider electronic communication. They require unique log-in procedures and user identifiers to secure the privacy of such communications, and are often augmented by additional features like appointment scheduling, medication refill processing, viewable...