"This innovative, trans-faculty subject teaches how information technologies (IT) are reshaping and redefining the health care marketplace through improved economies of scale, greater technical efficiencies in the delivery of care to patients, advanced tools for patient education and self-care, network integrated decision support tools for clinicians, and the emergence of e-commerce in health care. Student tutorials provide an opportunity for interactive discussion. Interdisciplinary project teams comprised of Harvard and MIT graduate students in medicine, business, law, education, engineering, computer science, public health, and government collaborate to design innovative IT applications. Projects are presented during the final class. ĺĘ Starting in Spring 2010, this course will be titled Enabling Technology Innovation in Healthcare and the Life Sciences."

The focus of the course is on medical science and practice in the age of automation and the genome, both present and future. It includes an analysis of the computational needs of clinical medicine, a review systems and approaches that have been used to support those needs, and an examination of new technologies.

Students begin with an introduction to the electronic health record. Confidentiality and privacy are introduced through an understanding of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Potential consequences that may occur when confidentiality is breached is explored. Videos that include cases are embedded in this prepared power point.