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Few people know that Israel is one of the global pioneers in health information technology, a digital revolution that began in the mid-1990s. Israel’s HMOs—notably Clalit Health Services and Maccabi, which today serve about 80 percent of the Israeli population—led this revolution, which resulted in the implementation of electronic medical records used by virtually 100 percent of the country’s population,1 the vast use of laboratory and imaging information systems, computerized physician order entries,2 and e-prescribing.

Clalit Health Services was the world’s first HMO to implement a health information exchange (HIE), enabling the creation of patient files that could include data and information input from various treatment sources, such as clinics and hospitals. This has allowed for unprecedented connectivity and mobility for the 60 percent of the Israeli population currently in its system. Virtual records have eliminated inefficiencies caused by medical records previously scattered among different service providers, and they have helped promote a continuum of care, improve the quality of care, and reduce costs significantly.

Israel was also one of the first countries to use telemedicine, and to introduce electronic clinical decision support systems and online indicators for medical and service quality. The understanding that health IT requires more than just software and hardware, but involves organizational and cultural change, was essential to the successful implementation of these complex systems and generated unique knowledge on how to manage the change.

Israeli health IT innovation and knowhow are transferable to any other country in the world and can provide models and offer solutions to different IT challenges and health systems.

Israel’s leadership, expertise in health IT, and competitive advantage could very well serve as models for the United States as it faces a more fully digital health-care future.