Nowadays,
E-commerce appears ready to assist the healthcare industry. E-commerce refers
to the use of electronic information technologies to conduct business
transactions among buyers, sellers, trading partners etc. There are two types
of e-commerce infrastructures which include web-based and EDI electronic data
interchange. Here the web-based e-commerce generally involves the use of a
browser that interacts with a Web server that does the transaction processing,
commonly used for B2C-type transactions. EDI transactions have typically been
used for B2B transactions. They are expected to decline, making strides toward
Web-based transactions. EDI combines
business and electronic infrastructures, which allows traditional business
transactions to be conducted electronically, ignoring the physical or
geographic boundaries separating them.
E-commerce
uses the Web as an infrastructure. Here
they provide a universal software client which is the Web browser and a
ubiquitous infrastructure which is the global Transport Control
Protocol–Internet Protocol network known as the Internet that can serve as a ready-made
platform. They reduces the costs of setting up as an e-commerce merchant
because it eliminates the need for each vendor to develop, distribute, and
support a software client and maintain a dedicated network and dialing-access
facilities.
The second annual National
Managed Health Care Congress (NMHCC) IT survey shows many results. Such as for
both payers and providers of healthcare, moving their B2B and B2C transactions
to the Web was their highest IT priority. This survey also suggests the need
for easier and more cost-effective remedies for better communication in a
disparate healthcare setting.
E-commerce has the potential for laying the
foundation for efficient and effective transactions between employers, payers,
providers, patients etc at low cost. E-commerce
comprises business processes, technology, and collaboration among stakeholders
and will probably affect the way the
orders are processed; in the long term, it will probably affect what will be
ordered. E-commerce has much to offer to the world and to the healthcare
community. Internet infrastructure, coupled with B2B and B2C models supported
by state-of-the-art technologies, would appear as perfect cures for all ills,
some concerns should be voiced. E-commerce needs to provide measurable
benefits, that is, there should be a perceived value in it for all
stakeholders. For more
Comments
Post a Comment