Transforming healthcare in the Internet Era

Healthcare services will be transformed in the Internet Era by developments in biotechnology, bioinformatics, health informatics, assimilation of modern business processes, and changing policy expectations. Discoveries in biology and communications technology offer the potential for improvements in health status of individuals and populations. Improved access to information about health and disease will typify early progress. Care in hospitals will shift toward palliation and end-of-life care; curing and prevention will increase in outpatient settings and/or within the home or workplace. Barriers include resistance to change and a lack of a global health information infrastructure that includes financing, standards, and coherent policy.