Call for Papers

EFFECT OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS ON MEDICAL PRACTICE AND CLINICAL RESEARCH

Health systems and practitioners in many countries have adopted the Electronic Health Record (EHR) over the past two decades. Incentives and penalties that are tied to the EHR were included in the 2010 health legislation in the United States. Several European countries, where the EHR has been in use longer, have recently modified their approaches to the EHR in light of their experiences. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine plans to publish in late 2012 papers that discuss aspects of the EHR.The Editors would like to solicit manuscripts on:

• Intended and unintended consequences of the EHR on the patient's relationship with the clinician;
• Effects of the EHR on the clinical encounter, especially changes in recording and evaluating the history and other narrative information;
• Underlying assumptions about the value of the EHR and rationale for its use, with particular attention to effects on quality of care, outcomes, economics, and risk management;
• Changes caused by the EHR in the clinician's cognitive tasks, problemsolving ability, and communications;
• Challenges to privacy and confidentiality;
• Effects on clinical research and health services research;
• Social network effects caused by the EHR and by the clinical use of ubiquitous devices (such as mobile tablet computers and phones);
• Speculation about the future of the EHR, i.e., how it may evolve as technology changes and penetration occurs to most clinical settings.

The Editors would welcome all rigorous discussions on related topics, including those that are anecdotal or quantitative, both reviews and original reports. Please contact Hamilton Moses, III,MD, Co-Editor (hm3@jhmi.edu) or via the journal website (editors_pbm@press.jhu.edu) as soon as possible providing information about your proposed article, including planned title, authors and (if possible) an abstract.The anticipated deadline for receipt of completed manuscripts will be July 1, 2012.