About

Mission Statement

To use innovative approaches to advance discovery of how to improve the use and impact of digital health on health system performance.

Motivation 

In just the past ten years, the U.S. healthcare system has gone from paper-based to largely digital. While the growing pains are obvious, the transition from paper to digital has the capacity to transform care.
 

Four stages are needed for this to occur:

(1) Digitization

Digital collection and storage of healthcare information through EHRs, other clinical IT systems, and patient-facing systems.

(2) Interoperability 

Connecting systems (enterprise to enterprise systems, apps/sensors to enterprise systems; patient-facing systems to one another and to enterprise systems) and integrating social and environmental information.

(3) Analytics

Using digital information to generate new knowledge about making care better, safer, more accessible, and less expensive.

(4) Learning Health System

Feeding new knowledge into health care to enable delivery of high-value care and a healthcare system that iteratively improves. 

 

As a nation, we’re at the end of Stage 1, and early into Stage 2. We’ve just scratched the surface on Stage 3. Stage 4, the hardest and most disruptive of all, is nascent; however, we are gaining insights into the challenges and opportunities to complete this last stage of the journey from digitization to excellence and value.

UCSF is uniquely positioned to accelerate progress in the first three stages, and to lay the foundation for the last stage to achieve the full benefit of the digital revolution.