1. Patient safety is affected by inadequate information, illegible entries,
misinterpretations, and insufficient interoperability.
2. Public safety, a major component of public health, is diminished by the inability
to collect information in a coordinated, timely manner at ye provider level in
response to epidemics and the threat of terrorism.
3. Continuity of patient care is the adversely affected by the lack of shareable
information among patient care providers.
4. Health care economics are adversely affected, with information capture and
report generation costs currently estimated to be well over USD 50 billion
annually.
5. Clinical research and outcomes analysis is adversely affected by a lack of
uniform information capture that is needed to facilitate the derivation of data
from routine patient care documentation.