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Patient-Centered Healthcare

The Role of the Internet

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Disease Management and Health Outcomes

Abstract

Within the US, consumers are assuming a much greater role in actively managing their own health, educating themselves regarding health problems, and facilitating interventions to improve health outcomes. The Internet is a convenient and cost-effective enabler for supporting patient-centered healthcare. It is a well-spring of knowledge; a virtual, global community center; and a simple and convenient infrastructure for enabling consumers to monitor their own health states. For the Internet to successfully fulfill its role in health and disease management, a number of significant challenges must be addressed. Foremost among these are unfamiliar and difficult clinical vocabulary, lack of quality control, unequal accessibility, and risks to personal privacy.

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Acknowledgements

The author is the Principal Investigator for the PCASSO project referenced herein. The PCASSO work is supported by a Health Information Infrastructure research contract N01 LM63537-00 from the US National Library of Medicine.

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  1. Science Applications International Corporation, 1874 South Pacific Coast Highway, #901, San Diego, California, USA

    Dixie B. Baker (Vice President and the Chief Technology Officer of the Enterprise)

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Correspondence to Dixie B. Baker.

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Baker, D.B. Patient-Centered Healthcare. Dis-Manage-Health-Outcomes 9, 411–420 (2001). https://doi.org/10.2165/00115677-200109080-00001

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