E‐Health: The Changing Model of Healthcare

Summary 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.