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Introduction
This report follows and deepens Institute for the Future’s previous forecast of January 1999, The Future of the Internet in Health Care: A Five-Year Forecast. That 1999 report mapped the landscape of Internet-based health care and forecast growth in leading-edge applications based on a series of drivers and barriers. Building on that foundation, this forecast more specifically maps one aspect of Internet health care by looking at a very important constituency: consumers. After describing some of the motivations and behaviors of consumers searching for health information and services online, this report maps market opportunities and forecasts the progression of health-related products and services online. Experience online creates expectations in those who access the Internet for increasingly diverse and personal reasons. This forecast seeks to answer the questions: How comfortable are they with it? Will they use it as a source of information when it comes to health? How comfortable are they with it as a medium for health care service delivery? What motivates them to trust the advice given in an online support group as much as or more than they trust the advice of their doctor? The forecast segments online health consumers into three unique categories: consumers who are Well, those who are Newly Diagnosed with an illness, and those who are Chronically Ill and their caregivers. Generally, individuals in each category are motivated by their health status to behave in a particular way online. Next the forecast describes the behaviors in each consumer segment and forecasts growth in four general categories of Internet health care products and services:
Finally, the forecast describes the market opportunities created by consumer demand for information and services on the Internet and their progression online. Stay tuned for the second article in this series focusing on the the three groups of online health consumers and their use of the Internet for health-related information. Go To Page: 1
The copyright of the article Health e-People: The Online Consumer Experience in E-Health/Telemedicine is owned by Michael Wysocki. Permission to republish Health e-People: The Online Consumer Experience in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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