The hospital-physician computer communications network: an alternative application

For more than five years hospitals have been developing computer communications networks as a physician bonding strategy because of their success in promoting hospital admissions and additional referrals to the sponsoring hospitals' specialists. An alternative, nonproprietary network may also be worthy of consideration because of the services and benefits it delivers to the total health care delivery system and to society as a whole--in addition to the advantages it offers the sponsoring hospital. An example of such a network is offered as an illustration.