In 2005, nearly $2 trillion will be spent on medical care in America. And, in return for that investment, almost nobody will be happy with the U.S. healthcare system.

The $2 trillion spent annually is roughly 15 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and dwarfs the per capita spending of any other country, yet on many measurements of health -- like life expectancy or infant mortality -- the U.S. trails well behind other developed countries.  More than 40 million Americans have no health insurance, including 11 million children. More than 40 million Americans do not have a regular source of primary healthcare.

The advances in medicine during the last 50 years -- a large number of which originated in the U.S. -- have been breathtaking, yet it takes on average 17 years for results of new research to reach general practice.  A decade after the Internet and the information technology revolution began transforming every nook and cranny of the American economy, the healthcare delivery system remains a predominantly paper-based, uncoordinated web of providers.

Dedicated people keep the system going despite its flaws, but the frustration level of patients, doctors, insurance companies, nurses, researchers, politicians, corporations, rich people, poor people -- just about anybody who has anything to do with the system -- has never been higher.   Likewise, the system has never been more complex and more stressed. There is more to know, more to do, more to watch, more to manage and more people involved than ever.

In this special report, Knowledge@Emory explores some of the issues facing the U.S. healthcare industry, and speaks with experts in a variety of roles about the challenges of navigating an increasingly strained system.

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Few would argue that technology fuels modern business. Yet, most industry analysts and medical practitioners admit healthcare remains behind the times when it comes to using technology to improve the quality of care and to streamline administration.  Why are medical practitioners resistant to IT advances, and what can be done to change the entrenched culture? How can technology ensure patient safety and medical outcomes, while preserving patient privacy? Is technology truly the solution to healthcare’s woes? Knowledge@Emory takes a look at this complex issue, with a select group of healthcare, academic and business leaders offering up their prescription to the roadblocks in technological implementation.