Case, co-founder of AOL, noted it took well over a decade to overcome consumers' resistance to credit card use for electronic commerce on the Internet. Similarly, it will take time for health care to adopt online communities and other new technology-fueled approaches, such as those offered by Revolution Health, he said.
"We believe personal health records will be commonplace in the not too distant future," said Case, whose company offers PHRs. It will take much longer, however, to link PHRs to providers' electronic health records systems, he said.
Health care "must go beyond creating digital filing cabinets" for patient records, he said, to making the information in electronic records "actionable" so it supports clinicians' decisions.
The impact of information technology, including the Internet, on consumers' health care experiences could eventually be more profound that the effect the Internet had on retailing, banking and other sectors, Case argued. "But ultimately, the consumer must control their medical information," he added.
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