The study found that many doctors go online at home and that the most common use of the Net by doctors is to conduct medical research. As new technologies become available, doctors realize that their practices and systems need to change, but they also feel overwhelmed about where to start. The security of medical information transmitted over the Internet also ranks as a major concern of doctors, the study found. Intel and the American Medical Association hope to alleviate that fear with an initiative to create digital certificates that authenticate doctors' identities online. Of course, the success of the project announced Tuesday will depend on a critical mass of physicians adopting the Internet in their medical practices.
Ambitious plans are under way to link doctors, HMOs and insurers via the Web.