---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 16:55:02 -0500
From: Amanda Franks <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: The Impact of the Internet on Health Care

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The journal of Health Affairs just released a special issue analyzing the
impact of the Internet on health care policy, privacy and quality.  This
special edition, with more than a dozen articles on this issue, is
available for free and can be viewed at:

http://www.healthaffairs.org

Highlights in the issue include:

* Health Information, The Internet, And The Digital Divide.  The so-called
digital divide between those who have and don't have access to the
Internet -- and to the growing body of health information there -- remains
significant, with gaps in computer use by income, education, and race,
according to a telephone survey conducted in late 1999.

* Virtually Exposed: Privacy And E-Health.  Consumers' concerns about lax
security for health information shared and maintained online are
justified.  What's more, those concerns are affecting consumers' use of
online health information.

* Two Old Hands And The New Thing.  Former Republican House Speaker Newt
Gingrich and former Clinton Administration adviser Ira Magazine agree that
the Internet could help solve many of the U.S. health care system's most
pressing problems.