Originally Published MX November/December 2005

EDITOR'S PAGE

With this issue, MX brings to a close its series on information technologies (IT) in healthcare. Articles in this eight-issue series have explored a variety of ways that medical technology companies are making use of IT to streamline product design and manufacturing, embed greater capabilities into their next-generation products, and contribute to the
development of an IT-rich healthcare environment.

Despite rapid advances over the past few years, however, the world's healthcare systems still lag behind many other industries in the application of IT. For this issue's series wrap-up, "The Next Challenge for Healthcare IT", MX spoke with a panel of eight experts about the current status and future path of healthcare IT. Their comments suggest that there is a great deal more that medical device companies can be doing to advance the field.