Over the past 5 to 10 years, the healthcare system has begun reform to increase safety, efficiency, cost reduction, increase of the continuum of care and the increase in information technology (IT). Many influences create this need for change, including healthcare laws, regulations, and consumers. The consumer begins to take charge of their health and become an advocate for their health care needs and action plans. This transformation has created an increased need for the healthcare system to increase the use of the healthcare management information system (HMIS). HMIS is intended to help all departments within a healthcare organization, such as a hospital, communicate more easily, creating a better healthcare experience for both healthcare providers and consumers. These HMIS initiatives include systems such as computerized physician order entry (CPOE), electronic medical records (EMR), health information exchange (HIE), and other electronic systems. These are the initiatives that are reforming the health system. However, there is little information analyzing these new trending initiatives and how they will help or harm the medical field. It is these systems that will be analyzed to determine the challenges they may present to the health system and to the leadership of health care organizations. Five Major Healthcare Initiatives The healthcare system has been introduced to many new electronic systems intended to increase the efficiency and safety of the system. These initiatives are EMR, CPOE, HIE, Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Each of these initiatives plays a different role within the health system; however, they all have the same goal of a b...... middle of paper ......6(7), 465-467.Myers, J., Frieden, T., Bherwani, K. , & Henning, K. (2008). Ethics in public health research. American Journal of Public Health, 98(5), 793-801. Stefanou, C. and Revanoglou, A. (2006). ERP integration in a healthcare environment: a case study. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 19(1), 115-130.Swayne, LE, Duncan WJ and Ginter, PM, (2009). Strategic Management of Healthcare Organizations (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Tan, J. and Payton, F. C. (2010). Adaptive Health Management Information Systems (3rd ed.). Sadbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Woodward, C. (2010). American rules on medical confidentiality are considered inadequate. Canadian Medical Association, 182(15), 1604-1605. Zuckerman, A.M. (2000). Creating a vision for the 21st century healthcare organization. Journal of Healthcare Management. 45(5), 294-305.