Cutting Edge Issues
Internet-Enhanced Physician Practices

Deploying a PACS: Issues to consider

Application Service Provider PACS: Analyzing Costs of Service

eHealth:
Towards A New World of Communications in Medicine

Case Study Zone
St Paul Radiology Goes Filmless

Who is eMed?
Mission Statement
Customer Base
Partnerships
Product Offerings
Support Services

Internet-Enhanced Physician Practices

Part 5

The Internet makes this possible on an infinite scale. The physician can be available wherever there is a web browser. To understand the importance of this change, consider the adoption curve for technology: it took 40 years to connect the first 10 million telephone users, but it is taking approximately 2 years to connect 10 million people to the World Wide Web.

Of all Internet searches, 43% have something to do with health care (defined as including prevention, sports medicine, and wellness). In the consumer’s hands, the Internet is an enormously important health tool. WebMD surveys 10,000 physicians every 6 months; in October 1999, survey responses indicated that 85% of physicians currently use the Internet (contrary to the longstanding predictions of financial analysts). Email is used daily by 63% of physicians, and 33% have already begun to use email to communicate with their patients.

CONCLUSION

The degree to which the Internet will be part of the practice of medicine should not be underestimated. Already, it is possible to use the Internet to conduct patient education, review coding compliance, analyze fee schedules, provide and accept referrals, check the status of referrals and determine the patient’s eligibility for them, submit claims, and obtain laboratory results, in addition to performing many other clinical and administrative activities. In the future, failure to take advantage of the Internet’s capabilities may well be considered more than inefficient; for many practices, it might simply become indefensible.

Kris Kyes, Decisions in Imaging Economics technical editor, adapted this article from a speech by Dennis Streveler, PhD, chief strategist, Healtheon/WebMD, presented at the Orthopedic Surgeon’s Income Symposium and Reimbursement Workshop on February 4, 2000, in New Orleans.