Disease control in the information era

As a result of advances in information technology, there is now a new capac ity to manage, interpret and apply data for the benefit not only of individ ual patients but of the population as a whole. Population health information systems are currently inadequate to meet the needs of disease control. In a rapidly changing world, effective public hea lth action requires timely and efficient data about what is happening in th e whole population. As the national effort to harness information technology to the needs of in dividual patient care begins, it is desirable that the electronic patient r ecord also becomes the building block for public health research and monito ring. Individual healthcare and population healthcare should be two sides of the one coin. Ownership, privacy and access to the contents of the electronic h ealth record should now be addressed in the context that disease control in the whole population will increasingly depend upon an efficient "real time " information system.