NetTrends: An E-Prescription For Health Biz
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - "The next Amazon" could be a
company that turns America's frustrating health care system
into a lean, mean medical machine.
Medicine seems to be an Internet market waiting to happen:
Lots of money, monumental inefficiency and a need to connect
patients, bill-payers and doctors on one big network.
An intelligent system could potentially shorten the wait
that greets every illness in turn-of-the-century America: Lines
to see the doctor, lines to get prescriptions at the pharmacy,
long waits on telephone lines to fix insurance problems.
Wouldn't it be great if the industry got wired enough to
eliminate those endless hours in waiting rooms? Or if it
started to wring some of the administrative costs out of a
bloated system? Dozens of companies are trying to do that,
aiming at an online medicine market that could be worth $11
billion by 2005, according to a new report by brokerage US
Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
"We are on the brink of radical health care reform -- not
of the traditional congressional nature, but driven instead by
new emerging technologies," said Daren Marhula, who wrote the
report.
So far, the Web hasn't cured any incredible ills and its
biggest successes have involved putting bookstores, travel
agents and stockbrokers out of business.
But in all those cases the Internet's transforming power is
evident. Merrill Lynch's e-commerce analyst, Henry Blodget,
marvels that Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O> "went from zero to $1.5
billion in sales in a dead market" in less than four years. In
the same time span, online brokers created 7 million new
accounts, in a similarly slow-growing business.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, in his quest to find his own "next
Amazon," by pushing his company into new areas, has gone after
pet supplies, music and medicine. Amazon recently acquired 40
percent of Drugstore.com, the online pharmacy that plans an
initial public offering soon.
What's the similarity between books, stocks and health
care? All are information-intensive and all involve constant
transactions from massive inventories. Amazon likes to point to
the 4.5 million titles in its bookstore. Stockbrokers have to
keep track of thousands of securities that they need to stock
and sell in real time.
Already, there are 16,000 health information sites on the
Web, says Piper Jaffray's Marhula, and 43 percent of Americans
are using the Internet to search for health information.
The brokerage industry was stunned by the willingness of
people to take over their own accounts with online trading. But
frustration with the health care industry will come as less of
a surprise. Marhula sees the Web as a way people are regaining
control, citing a Piper Jaffray report that 76 percent of
Americans agree "people should take primary responsibility for
their own health and not rely so much on doctors."
"The level of frustration most Americans feel with the
health care system germinates from a lack of information and
control in care and treatment," he said. Consumers' "desire to
educate themselves on health-related topics" will help
transform the business, making them more active participants in
health issues. Most would like to manage health care benefits
online, according to the market research firm CyberDialogue.
Another researcher, Yankelovich, found that nearly half of
Americans are not satisfied with the availability of their
doctors or with the time they spend with them.
Enter Dr. Koop and the Internet medicine show. Former
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop made a big splash (and boosted
his personal wealth by $50 million) with an initial public
offering that turned his trustworthy name into Internet gold.
His Web venture drkoop.com <KOOP.O> (http://www.drkoop.com) is
just one of many ventures trying to dispense health information
and services over the Web.
"There are a lot of Dr. Koops out there," said Merrill's
Henry Blodget, who th |
