Integrated systems require new information technology

The evolution of integrated health-care systems and the complex information systems that facilitate them is a high-tech chicken-and-egg story.

Some hospital officials and physicians would insist that a network of providers and continuity of service first must be in place in order to integrate a health-care system.

But Paul Hobson-Panico, regional director of strategy and management for Western Plains Health Network, would argue that while those features are important, they can’t occur without computer systems and software applications that enable physicians and others to share information effectively and rapidly.

Hobson-Panico is largely responsible for implementing information systems for one of the most…