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January 8, 1999 FORUM New Course Explores Future of Information Technology in Health Care The health care system in the U.S. is undergoing a rapid transition in response to changing trends and patterns of care. The growing emphasis on evidence-based medical practice, continuous quality improvement, clinical and cost-effectiveness, and risk management have led to a sea change in medical practice that has been stressful for clinicians, patients, and administrators. As care becomes more tightly managed, it becomes a challenge for clinicians, administrators, and patients to balance time, money, resources, and clinical outcomes. A new course, "Information Technology in the Health Care System of the Future "(HST 921), offered in the Harvard­MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, will explore whether emerging technologies can help solve these complex problems. The course begins on February 4 and is open to Harvard and MIT students. The Causes of Change A few of the technological change agents that are reinventing our health care system are * the electronic medical record; * automated appointment and resource scheduling systems; * clinical transaction monitoring programs; * Web-based patient education and physician consulting systems; * continuing medical education via the Web and CD-ROM; * in-hospital instrumentation; * automated data capture and analysis; and * computer-based quality assurance and critiquing systems. While a variety of information technologies have thrived within research laboratories for years, until recently they have had very little impact on the day-to-day practice of medicine. Often, developers strove to convince their colleagues of the advantages of a technology-enabled approach to patient care and cost containment. In contrast, today clinicians and administrators are seeking out these new approaches. As such, there is a virtual vacuum of professionals with experience in the practical application of information technology toward solving real-world medical challenges. The goal of this course is to bring a practical focus to bear on a variety of current health care challenges. The course will achieve this by providing students with * vision of the future of health care in the 21st century; * the cognitive framework they need to conceptualize health care challenges and determine if they are amenable to information technologies; * understanding of the practical significance of the technologies available for application in health care, ranging from voice recognition and pen-based computing to groupware and wireless computing; * exposure to some of the top experts in the fields of telemedicine, cybermedicine, health care management, marketing, medical law, pharmaceuticals, information delivery technologies, and health care marketing, with faculty selected from HarvardMedical, Business, and Law Schools; MIT; and the commercial sector; and* hands-on experience with leading-edge technologies applied to real-world health care challenges. Multidisciplinary Studies In this transfaculty course, students will learn how information technologies are helping to reshape the health care marketplace. Students will work in interdisciplinary teams (including students in medicine, business, law, engineering, public health, and government) to analyze, develop, and present a specific disease or clinical management program that will incorporate (but is not limited to) management techniques, services, and technologies as presented during lectures and laboratories. Students' proposed solutions will draw upon their understanding of tools and principles acquired during the course and will be presented as an application design during the final day of the course. Opportunities to interact with corporate sponsors will enhance the emphasis on practical solutions to real-world problems. Students will learn how to critique and analyze various management programs and technology systems currently available to health care professionals. In addition to lectures, laboratories will serve as interactive training sessions to introduce the information technology tool sets that will be used by the students to design an original health care delivery system application. Tools will include those used by professionals in health economics, disease management, decision support, clinical effectiveness, and automated clinical trials design. This four-credit, full-semester course will be offered annually in the spring term. There are weekly lectures and laboratory sessions, plus tutorials. There are no prerequisites. This interdisciplinary course is for students interested in strategic development of health-related businesses, outcomes research, and point-of-care patient services. The course is open to students from MIT, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, Harvard School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Harvard Law School. In addition, undergraduates at MIT and Harvard College are eligible to register with permission of their adviser. For further information, contact the course director, Steven Locke, at 617-859-5415; slocke@mit.edu; or visit the Web site, hms.medweb.harvard.edu. --Steven Locke, course director and associate professor of psychiatry at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess