The proliferation of the Internet and its associated technologies is changing our lives. And perhaps nowhere is it more evident than in how consumers are approaching their health care.
Studies cite that a third of all Internet users already seek out health information online.
And that number is predicted to double within two years. One study puts the number at 30 million users who will turn to the Web for health information within the year. And although the Internet creates tremendous access to the information, technologies common in other industries now are being used to generate meaningful information from raw health care data. For instance, data warehouses and decision support solutions, which are commonly used in retailing environments, allow users to store data in a consistent format and extract the information to identify hidden relationships. The results include statistical analyses of health services and treatment results or uncovering patterns of health care fraud.