COURTESY OF SONIA KOTLIAR, MD ’89 and support staff. As the medical center prepares to roll out its enterprisewide electronic medical records system, she devotes a large portion of her time to working with the team to map and adopt work-flow process changes across departments and organizational lines to meet the various quality-focused standards. “As health care evolves from hospital-centered to stepped-down care, health information systems optimally provide the means of engaging patients and coordinating care across the health care continuum,” Dr. Kotliar says. “With the overarching goal of improved, quality care, clinical informatics interconnects technology with all forms of medical and health information in the manner most useful to time-strapped clinicians. “For every reason, from better patient care to greater efficiency, to the need to meet the reporting standards of the HITECH [Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health] Act of 2009, we’re getting our physicians up to speed, and our patients engaged,” she adds. “Connecting people to solve a problem: it’s challenging, but it’s time well spent.” M Robert Wood Johnson I MEDICINE 47