Cutting Edge Issues

eHealth:
Towards A New World of Communications in Medicine

Case Study: Overlake Hospital Medical Center

Information on Demand: Consumer-Controlled Medical Records

Finding Leaders for Internet Health Care

Building the Security-Capable Enterprise

Planning Business Strategies with Internet Support

Internet Use as a Survival Strategy

Case Study Zone

Who is eMed?

Information on Demand: Consumer-Controlled Medical Records

Part 4

That cannot be accomplished, however, without information. In its absence, medicine is reactive, not proactive. Without information, physicians must focus on individuals who seek their care, not on those who should be receiving their care. The Internet enables them to perform some of the activities associated with this higher calling. It may be a bit harsh, but physicians (although they are well educated, they have very high ethical standards, and they are very highly motivated) suffer from something that resembles Alzheimer disease. They do not have the information that they need at their fingertips. They are wiping the slate clean every time a patient leaves the office. They lack the information that is necessary to make the decisions that would serve their patients well.

Health care professionals, those who are insurers and arrangers of care, those who choose and pay for health care plans, and consumers all share at least one characteristic: none are very happy with the situation as it now stands. Change, particularly major change, does not occur without pain, and the Internet is a major change in the environment. (The Internet is referred to as disruptive technology, one that changes everything.) There are, clearly, certain pressures acting upon the constituents of health care. Medical and Internet/communications technologies are among these pressures. Increasing demand for health care is another. In the United States, there is an insatiable desire for health care; combined with the aging of the members of the population bubble born between 1948 and 1952, this desire is fueling further demand. It was once thought that the major effect of the baby boom on health care would be seen when that generation reached age 75, but this is not correct. They are beginning to make their demands for change now, as their parents reach that age. They see disjointed information handling and note its effects on care, and they do not want the same consequences to befall them when they become elderly.

The cost of health care is increasing geometrically. Technology is increasing the choices available to patients, but costs are skyrocketing. The consumer, empowered by technology, is claiming the right to change things. The baby boomers are coming, and I believe that they are a powerful force. They also have a powerful tool, and that tool is the Internet.

Health care providers need to look at these people, who are used to etickets, online banking, and online trading. If they call an airline about an eticket, they do not expect the person who answers the telephone to say, “I am sorry, but you will have to tell me all about yourself, because I do not think that you spoke to me personally the last time you called.” That is, however, what they might hear when they call their physicians.