Members of the health care community can either participate in this revolution or become bystanders to it. Although the health care industry has been reluctant to embrace computing, a new crop of startups is springing up to offer health-related information to online consumers. BabyCenter, a San Francisco startup for new and expectant parents, showed yesterday that it's moving from merely providing information to adding electronic commerce to its Web site.
People see huge potential.
Minnesota's esteemed Mayo Clinic was on hand to tout its newest offering, Web sites that employers can link to to give workers information about wellness and how to prevent health problems. The clinic, a nonprofit venture, also has a public site with information for the general public. For the workplace site, companies like Intel, Dow Corning, Lucent Technologies and Dell Computer have already signed up, according to Michael Casey of Mayo HealthQuest. That certainly is Intel's hope. It's another reason for people to own and use computers.