Archimedes: A bold step into the future

The increasing adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) enables the development of new tools to guide clinical research, clinical protocol development, and national policy formulation. Archimedes is an example of a new generation of tools that go beyond identifying past problems with medical devices and pharmaceuticals or failures with health care delivery to predicting potential problems and identifying new treatments and approaches that can improve care. Although the arrival of this new generation of tools raises some concerns, the tools' great potential for improving care must be carefully considered.