Moving beyond the physician's EHR

At the end of the 19th century, the United States saw a revolution in the transportation industry. The transcontinental railroad was completed, steam ships and locomotives began to move goods and services, and the automobile industry was still in its infancy. Within the medical establishment, healthcare providers were excited about how to leverage this new “automobile” technology to improve healthcare and reduce medical costs. Between 1906 and 1912, the Journal of the American Medical Society ( JAMA ) published a number of articles that captured the discussion among physicians about how best to use this new technology in the transportation age. Articles entitled the “physicians automobile”1–3 contained discussions about the return on investment when using an automobile, patient safety, automobile technology, and anecdotes about the successes (and challenges) of incorporating this …