e-Health is great for providing statistics on process and performance, even if that is not its main aim. We have e-Health projects on electronic case records, patient appointment/admission management, digitial dictation etc. David Loxtercamp points out that the combination of performance targets and data will shape increasingly to what and to whom we listen.
An electronic system can remind us to tick boxes that might otherwise have been missed. But now such omissions can be tracked perniciously.
What we can measure always seems to matter more than what we cannot. Managing markers and numbers (BP, glucose, weight etc) will often miss the underlying psychological or social issue. The placebo effect reminds us that choosing the right drug might not be as important as the expression of empathy, and helping patients believe that change is both necessary and possible.
 BMJ Sept 2013