Information technology affects virtually every aspect of human existence. People use the Internet for commerce and entertainment. They buy books, movies, and games online. Governments allow citizens to file tax returns and vehicle registration renewals digitally. In many jurisdictions, people pay fees electronically or register complaints about potholes, rats, and garbage collection through designated websites.
With the explosion of online activity, policy advocates hope to bring the benefits of information technology to health care. Governments, hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical manufacturers have placed a tremendous amount of medical information online in recent years. Rather than personally visit or call health care professionals, patients can surf websites filled with detailed information about specific illnesses, order drugs and equipment online, and communicate with physicians or other health professionals through e-mail or web messaging. Advances in information technology give people more powerful communications choices than at any other point in human history.
However, there are a variety of political, social, ethical, and economic forces that limit the scope of the electronic health revolution. Medical care is a highly politicized policy area characterized by intense conflict between major interests. Responsibility for health care is shared among fragmented financing and service delivery systems, which slows the pace of change. Reform is complicated by a digital divide that prevents many vulnerable populations from taking full advantage of recent advances in information technology. Technology costs, ethical dilemmas, and privacy concerns make it difficult for society to take full advantage of new modes of communication within the health care sphere.
This book investigates factors that limit the ability of digital technology to remake health care. Few people use the Internet to search for health information, purchase prescription drugs online, or e-mail health care providers. Most do not avail themselves of electronic medical records. Based on our analysis of online content, national public opinion surveys, and case studies of technology innovation, we argue that gains in health information technology will not be realized until policymakers and health care officials develop a better understanding of key problems. A variety of measures are required to bring health information technology to all consumers. Prevailing obstacles in the form of political divisions, technology costs, communications problems, ethical issues, privacy concerns, and disparities between social groups must be addressed if the benefits of the e-health revolution are to be extended to all.
About the Authors
Book Details
With the explosion of online activity, policy advocates hope to bring the benefits of information technology to health care. Governments, hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical manufacturers have placed a tremendous amount of medical information online in recent years. Rather than personally visit or call health care professionals, patients can surf websites filled with detailed information about specific illnesses, order drugs and equipment online, and communicate with physicians or other health professionals through e-mail or web messaging. Advances in information technology give people more powerful communications choices than at any other point in human history.
This book investigates factors that limit the ability of digital technology to remake health care. Few people use the Internet to search for health information, purchase prescription drugs online, or e-mail health care providers. Most do not avail themselves of electronic medical records. Based on our analysis of online content, national public opinion surveys, and case studies of technology innovation, we argue that gains in health information technology will not be realized until policymakers and health care officials develop a better understanding of key problems. A variety of measures are required to bring health information technology to all consumers. Prevailing obstacles in the form of political divisions, technology costs, communications problems, ethical issues, privacy concerns, and disparities between social groups must be addressed if the benefits of the e-health revolution are to be extended to all.
About the Authors
- Darrell M. West is vice president and director of Governance Studies and founding director of the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. His studies include technology policy, electronic government, and mass media.
- Edward Miler is an associate professor of gerontology and public policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston and adjunct associate professor of public policy and community health at Brown University. A former Fulbright scholar and social policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service trained in political science and health services research at Yale University and the University of Michigan, he is the author of more than 80 journal articles, book chapters and reports on aging and long-term care, telemedicine and e-health, and intergovernmental relations.
Book Details
- Paperback: 185 pages
- Publisher: Brookings Institution Press; 2nd edition (February 25, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0815704550
- ISBN-13: 978-0815704553
- Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches