Issues in International Health Policy - Commonwealth Fund.pdfVIP

March 2010 Issues in International Health Policy Widespread Adoption of Information Technology in Primary Care Physician Offices in Denmark: A Case Study Denis Protti Professor, Health Information Science, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Ib Johansen Deputy Manager, MedCom, Denmark The mission of The Commonwealth AbSTrACT: Denmark is one of the world’s leading countries in the use of health care tech- Fund is to promote a high performance nology. Virtually all primary care physicians have electronic medical records with full clinical health care system. The Fund carries functionality. Their systems are also connected to a national network, which allows them to out this mandate by supporting electronically send and receive clinical data to and from consultant specialists, hospitals, phar- independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve macies, and other health care providers. Under the auspices of a nonprofit organization called health care practice and policy. Support MedCom, over 5 million clinical messages are transferred monthly. One of the most impor- for this research was provided by tant innovations has been the “one-letter solution,” which allows one electronic form to be The Commonwealth Fund. The views used for all types of letters to and from primary care physicians; it is used in over 5,000 health presented here are those of the