Standards underpin e-commerce in healthcare

摘要

Ensuring that the right health care product is available at the right place and time, thereby efficiently supporting health care services and clinical needs of the end-consumer - the patient - can be better achieved by automating the trading transactions involved. The idea of any business adapting to e-commerce is by no means new. The perception is that it can be costly - not an enlightening thought for the SME sector and larger warehouse, manufacturers or supplier companies. But because the cost of implementing on-line trading can be shared by cross industry use there are an increasing number of ways in which, an SME supplier for example, can afford the move to e-commerce. In 2000, members of the health sector published the Health Online Report after a series of all-inclusive seminars and workshops. This foundational work has since underpinned several online developments, notably MediConnect and HealthConnect - two world leading e-health initiatives. A subsequent Health Online publication, Setting the Standards, described how the medical products supply chain was an integrated part of the clinical chain - notably in helping to ensure the "rights" -right patient, right product, right time, right place and right procedure.