Digital Medicine: Health Care in the Internet Era

(Paperback)

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Description

Information technology has dramatically changed the way we live our lives in areas ranging from commerce and entertainment to voting. Now, policy advocates and government officials 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, data, and services online in recent years. Many consumers can visit health department sites and compare performance data on health care providers. Some physicians encourage patients to use e-mail or web messaging as opposed to phone calls or in-office visits for simple medical issues. Increasingly, medical equipment and prescription drug manufacturers are making their products available online. Yet despite this growth in activity, the promise of e-health remains largely unfulfilled. Digital Medicine investigates the factors limiting the ability of digital technology to remake health care in the United States and around the world.

Reviews

"West and Miller's exploration of the costs, concerns, and possible benefits of digital medicine is both thoughtful and timely. Librarians, health advocates, and policymakers on both sides of the issue will chew on this food for thought." Library Journal

Author Bio

Darrell M. West is vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. Previously, he was the John Hazen White Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. He is the author of fifteen books, including Digital Government: Technology and Public Sector Performance (Princeton, 2005), Biotechnology Policy across National Boundaries (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), and Air Wars: Television Advertising in Election Campaigns, 1952-2008 (CQ Press, 2009).Edward Alan Miller is assistant professor of public policy, political science, and community health at Brown University and faculty associate at Brown's Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research. A former Fulbright scholar and social policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service, he is the author of more than 80 journal articles, book chapters, and reports.