Technology has done a lot to change the way health care operates in North Carolina and across the country. As those who work in health care know, that change has often been beneficial, but it has had its drawbacks as well. In the latest issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal, authors contemplate the pros and cons of using technology – especially artificial intelligence – to make health care more effective and efficient.

The issue, guest-edited by Michael E. Thompson and Michael F. Dulin of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, tackles issues such as privacy and bias while providing guidance regarding ethical and advantageous use of existing and emerging technologies.

“To make big data useful while protecting patient privacy, we need new governance models that allow organizations to treat data as a fundamental asset,” Thompson and Dulin write. “This issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal explores the promise and the perils of big data s we seek to transform our health care system into one that is more proactive, equitable, and value based.”

Click the links below to read the articles in this issue, and feel free to share them and tag the journal - @NCMedJ on Twitter and @NCMJ on Facebook.