The Indiana Network for Patient Care: An Integrated Clinical Information System Informed by Over Thirty Years of Experience

Presented in this article is the Indiana Network for Patient Care, an integrated citywide medical record system that promotes health quality by enabling efficient access to clinical information throughout the broader population of Indianapolis and the rest of the caregivers within the state of Indiana. It begins with a description of the system's infrastructure, which includes an explanation of how the system accomplishes data integration. This is followed by a series of descriptions and rationales behind the many clinical applications that interface with these data.  The keys to success for this project include leveraging the value of the integrated data and identifying workflow inefficiencies, having a commitment to standards such as LOINC and SNOMED so all participants use the same standard language, and managing sociopolitical challenges specific to our community.  In doing so, some of the factors that we feel contribute to the success of the system are illustrated.