Global Trends of Regional Health Information Systems and Suggested Strategic Utilization of their Medical Information

OBJECTIVES: Along with the exponentially-growing data produced and accumulated every day through mobile platforms, social networking services, the Internet, and other media, information is becoming increasingly important as a strategic resource. This report presents specific and clear directions and suggests empirical project plans regarding innovations in regional health information systems to promote the utilization of medical information. METHODS: We reviewed and examined documents about global trends and examples of regional health information systems. The problems and solutions of health information utilization and regional health information systems in Korea were analyzed. RESULTS: This study presented examples of the establishment of health information systems, problems in the use of local healthcare information, and an empirical project for improvement. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study imply the need for long-term and systematic approaches for the use of medical information and the establishment of a local healthcare information system, along with implementation plans. As a first step, it is imperative to clarify the goal of building a medical information system, the information that must be provided to build the system, and the data that should be collected to provide such information, while moving away from the mentality of focusing on technology-oriented medical information services. In addition, it is necessary to consider information governance, data-based service development, and the medical innovation framework, which are ways to efficiently manage, utilize, and systemize the data to be collected.