Change is inevitable; progress is optional. Information technology developments in healthcare, including electronic health and medical records, wireless and mobile devices and patient and provider portals have been delivering a revolution that promises improvements in access to care, quality, safety, health outcomes and healthcare integration. Information system tools are designed to deliver more accessible, timely and better organized clinical knowledge and link this to patient- and population-specific information to best support decisions about individuals, populations and organizations. The greater the degree of interconnectivity and interoperability of these information systems, the greater will be their value across
diverse settings.

To become and remain effective, these information systems must be thoughtfully designed to address real needs, be highly responsive to informed user and patient input, balance workflow and local needs against process improvement and provide robust user support to enhance adoption. These information tools will also need to keep pace with changes in care and the broader understanding of health and illness and care delivery as seen in primary care reform, personalized medicine based on genetics and team-based care. Clinical leaders should define relevant
goals to allow impact evaluation which can then lead to further improvements in the application of information technology.