The healthcare industry, with more than $1 trillion in revenue, represents about one-seventh of the U.S. economy. A significant portion of this revenue is lost due to rising healthcare costs. This article examines the shortcomings of the traditional healthcare delivery system in terms of information flow, communication standards, case collection and IT spending. This shows that e-commerce has the ability to transact some healthcare businesses more efficiently and cost-effectively. With the Internet as a distribution platform, several models offer improvements over the status quo. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Internet has created both opportunities and threats that vendors of all types must sooner or later face to remain viable businesses in the new economy. While business-to-business (B2B) innovations offer great hope in reducing costs and providing other efficiencies, connecting electronically with patients is a particularly challenging frontier where technical hurdles are typically overcome by political, legal, workflow and more. However, the rise of consumerism requires a response, focused on the needs and demands of the patient. Consumerism has been developing for several years. It represents a subtle shift from selling to buying in the economy. Informed consumers are largely responsible for an increasing number of transactions and acts, depending on perceived needs. This is especially evident with raw materials; the organizational layers between producers and consumers have been reduced to an absolute minimum, with an overall thinning margin. Conducting such transactions over the Internet exposes consumers to new ways of communicating with providers of products and services, of which email is a simple but exceptional example. These experiences are shaping consumer expectations, which are extending to healthcare, albeit slowly and with ongoing debate. Changes in consumer attitudes have been fueled by the increasing access and availability of information, once again, as a result of the Internet. In the healthcare industry, informed consumers are more empowered and demanding to be more involved in decision-making processes involving their health or that of their loved ones. Most often the impulse is a serious or life-threatening illness when the information, from any source, is of vital interest. Day after day, however, simple conveniences and respect for precious time are potentially more important to patient satisfaction. Why would it take half a day of discomfort for ten minutes of service? Few people have all this time today, and wasting time is offensive, even for those who do it. How should suppliers respond? Where should initiatives focus and what are the critical components of success? Are the business models underlying the various market solutions financially sound? Will they resist and grow? How will personal medical records feed into solutions? Who will “own” that data and who will be charged with the responsibility of managing it? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are far from clear. However, the possibilities of current technology and successes in sectors other than healthcare are, together with consumerism, a serious and collective call to action. This has been suggested elsewhere. Suppliers must overcome fear, procrastination, the need for perfection and the search for the “killer app,” as delay itself brings its own set of risks. In theshort term, the answer is a matter of starting to overcome inertia and uncertainty. We must conclude that there is a critical mass of motivating factors, recognize the real disadvantages of the status quo and set a sensible course of action. In the long run, it is really the survival of businesses that impacts traditional economic measures of revenue. , costs and market share. However, the ultimate byproducts of these activities could take on greater importance, including an evolving electronic health information infrastructure, secure longitudinal health records, comprehensive disease management, well-being, and greater responsibility for patient-trusted health. Healthcare e-commerce involves transactions and information exchange between vendors, hospitals, insurance agencies, state and federal regulators, and medical practices. Patients, the end consumers, are not directly involved. Forrester Research estimates that by 2004, $2.7 trillion worth of business, or 17 percent of the total economy, will be achieved through B2B electronic commerce. The B2B online healthcare market is estimated to increase in value from $6 billion in 1999 to $348 billion in 2004, making it one-sixth of overall healthcare commerce.63 The primary emphasis of B2B e-commerce is on chain offer. B2B strives to achieve three goals: improve efficiency, reduce transaction costs and provide real-time information to all stakeholders. Efficiency is typically improved by streamlining healthcare delivery. Multi-layered approvals are being abolished and replaced by simpler and faster approvals using artificial intelligence technologies. Inventories are better managed and monitored by centrally locating them and sharing information about usage and future requests. Proactive disease management and implementation of preventative health maintenance measures help avoid prolonged hospital stays. For example, ePhysician.com allows doctors to write prescriptions online using PDAs. Doctors can interact with clinical systems not only to write prescriptions, but also to order lab tests and view patient information. Vendors like Claimsnet.com allow providers to submit claims to payers online; uses a single standard for sending requests. As an example of order processing, e-commerce would allow the healthcare provider to swipe a customer's health insurance fund card at a dialup terminal, enter the appropriate data, and immediately receive payments for the fund. contribution to the service provided; the customer then pays the balance. Reducing transaction costs occurs by reducing the costs of executing purchase orders with suppliers, reducing the costs of paying for goods and services, and reducing the cost of transferring vital information. These are generally achieved by grouping requests from different departments or groups to qualify to receive quantity discounts, obtaining the latest pricing information, and using the Internet to process all transactions. Companies like empactHealth.com's agreement with Health Management Associates (HMA) and Columbia/HCA to exclusively use empactHealth.com's online requesting, ordering and purchasing network for all medical and non-medical supplies and services is one example. B2C healthcare e-commerce is an electronic marketplace designed to inform healthcare users about medical products and services. The ultimate goal of B2C e-commerce is to save on future treatment costs by better educating users or to generate revenue through the sale of.