ASPs pave the way for e-care

ASPs Pave the Way for E-Care

Everywhere I turn these days, I hear the phrase “application service provider.” Everybody’s doin’ it, and if they’re not, they likely should be. This holds especially true in the healthcare arena, where modality, PACS, HIS/RIS, EMR, and archiving vendors are all jumping on the ASP bandwagon.

This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, for end users and industry alike, it should prove to be a very, very good thing. Industry analysts have estimated that the ASP market will grow to nearly $2.2 billion by 2003, with about 80% of revenue going to the healthcare industry as organizations search for Internet-based technology to link disparate information systems, maximize the delivery of patient care, and help reduce medical and administrative costs.

According to Goldman Sachs, the biggest benefit of the Internet in healthcare will be “e-care” technology. And that, in a nutshell, is what Health Networking News is all about.

Over the last few months, while developing and promoting HNN, we have developed a mission statement of sorts that now resides on our Web site www.healthnetnews.com. It reads, in part:

“HNN provides timely news and analysis of the computer, communications, and information systems technologies that are revolutionizing the delivery of clinical care: converged networks, wireless communications, application service providers, electronic patient records, Web-based image and information management, voice recognition, 3-D visualization, remote monitoring, and even wearable computers...HNN covers industry trends, emerging markets and technologies, new applications and products, and other developments that can impact critical business and marketing decisions.”

While we are not quite yet an ASP, our goals are very much the same: We want to make critical information available to our customers when and where they need it most.

From a business and technology perspective, these are very exciting times in healthcare and healthcare publishing. With the increasing integration of image and information management systems and the growing use of Web- and Internet-based technologies and business models, HNN is in a key position to provide its readers with unique knowledge about emerging market segments and potential business partners.

And we intend to do this in as timely a manner as possible. In addition to biweekly printed versions of HNN, the newsletter will be available to paid subscribers on our Web site on the date of publication.

We will also be sending periodic e-mail “news flashes” to subscribers when we come across a story or development that is so important it just can’t wait until the next issue. Eventually, we expect to become a full-blown online newsletter. But as is the case with many of our readers, that business model is still in the works.

In the meantime, we here at HNN hope you will find the newsletter as interesting and invaluable as our other publications have become to their readers. And feel free to contact us with feedback and story ideas. We’re only an e-mail away.

Send feedback and suggestions to kkincade@mfi.com

© 2000 Miller Freeman, Inc., a United News & Media company.

• Search again
• Homepage