Part of the reason self care, prevention, and health promotion are so undeveloped is that traditional print and mass media do not allow individuals to access health information when they need it in a form that aids appropriate decision making. Health-oriented telecommunications are likely to revolutionize this part of the health system by making available anything people need or want to know about their health 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the home, school, workplace, or through public terminals.
Predictor: McDonald, Michael
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Joe Flower explains the types of changes that could come in health care through the use of networked computing, quoting Michael McDonald, a specialist in networked computing issues and public health. Flower writes:”We would save money in big buckets if we gave people an easy way to grab good information about their own health at home. [Michael McDonald, chair of Communications and Computer Applications in Public Health in Berkeley, California] calls this hypothetical system the Personal Health Information System. Picture the kind of TV/telephone/computer information appliance that people widely expect will a big part of the home in the future. Give it a home version of a medical ‘expert system,’ fitted with a highly interactive graphic interface. It can ask the kind of questions, and give the kind of answers, that the doctor at the clinic would … This system, with all its interactivity, could be put online. According to McDonald: ‘Part of the reason self care, prevention, and health promotion are so undeveloped is that traditional print and mass media do not allow individuals to access health information when they need it in a form that aids appropriate decision making. Health-oriented telecommunications are likely to revolutionize this part of the health system by making available anything people need or want to know about their health 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the home, school, workplace, or through public terminals.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Medical/Professional
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: The Other Revolution in Health Care: Leave Hillary and Bill Out of It … The Health Care System is Going to Change Drastically Over the Next Decade
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.01/healthcare_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney