The Working Group 5 of the International Medical Informatics Associ- ation (IMIA) dedicates its work to information systems in primary and ambulatory care. The first conference of this Working Group in Hanno- ver in 1980 produced a review of the state of the art of that time and gave perspectives for future development (Rienhoff, O. and Abrams, M.E. (eds.): The Computer in the Doctor's Office, Horth- Holland, Amsterdam: 1980). In the meantime, a rapid...