Health In The Electronic Era

Because the electronic era is re-shaping medicine, I would like to discuss some of its implications on general health care. The introduction of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations and implementation has become the medical "Y2K" focusing event of the century and has caused the entire health care system to study the ramifications of electronic health information. Gunther Eysenbach, the editor of the Journal of Medical Internet Research has defined e-Health as follows:

e-Health is an emerging field in the intersection of medical informatics, public health and business, referring to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. In a broader sense, the term characterizes not only a technical development, but also a state-of-mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care worldwide by using information and communication technology.

I will also summarize his "ten e's in health care":

Efficiency - one of the promises of e-health is to increase efficiency in health care, thereby decreasing costs. For example, the formation of medical error database, electronic health claims submission and through enhanced communication possibilities between health care establishments, and through patient involvement.

Enhancing quality of care - increasing efficiency involves not only reducing costs, but at the same time improving quality. E-health may enhance the quality of health care by being able to compare costs and services of health providers.

Evidence based - e-Health interventions should be evidence-based. Scientific evidence of intervention effectiveness would replace regular health assumptions. There are many public companies, collaborating with academic centers to provide the medical community with evidence based medicine models.

Empowerment of consumers and patients - Health care can be patient and evidence based as access to health care knowledge has become available. The AMA, though, recently did a review of health information web sites and concluded that not all medical information is reliable, and that you would need to visit multiple sites to get a correct view of a particular medical condition.

Encouragement of a new relationship between the patient and health professional, towards a true partnership, where decisions are made in a shared manner.

Education of physicians and health care providers...