title: E-health: the changing model of healthcare.
abstract: E-health--any electronic exchange of healthcare data or information across organizations--reflects an industry in transition. Even as its form and structure continue to emerge, e-health is being used to change business and medical practices, affecting every facet of the American health experience. Business, medical, social, and technological factors are converging to make wide-scale, continuum-based care functionally achievable perhaps for the first time. The Internet clearly drives the development and adoption of e-health applications; standing alone, it has the reach, the infrastructure, and the acceptance to achieve widespread change. As the public grows increasingly Internet-enabled, healthcare organizations have an opportunity to cost-effectively reach a large part of the U.S. population. The sheer breadth of e-health, the many options available to healthcare organizations, and the relative immaturity of the applications in most areas make navigating the spectrum of possibilities a clear healthcare management challenge. Deciding how to incorporate the demand for e-health has extensive technological, organizational, managerial, and ethical implications.
authors.affiliation: Information Technology Optimizers, Business Unit of Health Care Investment Visions, LLC, Alemeda, California, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: DeLuca
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Enmark
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D003199:Computer Systems; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000639:trends; D019451:Information Management / Q000639:trends; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010820:Physicians; D018511:Systems Integration; D014481:United States