Finding a Digital Diagnosis
From a child's croupy cough to an adult's cancer diagnosis, the first course of action many people take when faced with an illness is to look it up on the Internet. The Web already has given people access to more information about diseases and treatments than they had in the past, when the library, family, and friends were their only resources, says Patrick Boyle, director of IBM's American healthcare and life sciences program. The Web's role in the medical decision-making process is likely to increase in coming years, as healthcare plans evolve.
As consumer-directed medical benefits plans and health savings accounts proliferate, "all of us will be more financially accountable for the care provided," explains WebMD President and CEO Wayne Gattinella. "Online decision support tools will have a dramatic impact on the decisions we make as we try to compare the quality of one doctor versus another and compare the cost of one treatment versus another." Websites, such as www.webmd.com, will help people compare doctors, hospitals, and treatments, including data about past performance and prices. ( U.S. News offers health information at usnews.com .)
Other health websites will become more interactive than they are today. For example, the National Cancer Institute ( www.cancer.gov ) is working on a service that will help patients and healthcare professionals find, understand, and participate in clinical trials. The American Cancer Society also is enhancing its site to help users "focus less on finding the information and more on choosing the best solution," explains Roshini George of the ACS. "In the next 10 years, we will see newly diagnosed cancer patients be able to log on to www.cancer.org , have the recommended treatment options presented to them, activate appointment reminders, and sign up to be alerted about new clinical trials directly to their cellphone."
The Internet will also allow people to have a portable health record stored and updated on the Web. With such information available instantly, doctors can improve the accuracy of the care they provide. Good news to patients everywhere.
This story appears in the December 5, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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