risk versus high-risk patients, after
accounting for patient preferences.
Data from the EHR offer us
the chance to reexamine and improve
the value of critical care.
Incentives for reaching HIT targets
related to patient triage could
accelerate the research and collaboration
necessary to take full
advantage of this opportunity. We
believe it makes the most sense
to use the ICU for the most seriously
ill patients or those who
stand to benefit the most from
critical care and to harness the
emerging power of the EHR
across large health systems to
evaluate how we can best use a
very expensive and limited resource.
That, we believe, would truly
be meaningful use of HIT.
The views expressed in this article are
those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent those of the Department of Veterans
Affairs or the University of Michigan.
Disclosure forms provided by the authors
are available with the full text of this article
at NEJM.org.