Title: Converging genetics and information technologies and the emerging healthcare system

Authors: Curtis P. McLaughlin, Craig Q. Fitzgerald

Addresses: Kenan-Flagler Business School and Dept. of Health Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 8823 Drew Lane, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA. Genetics Directorate, Glaxo Wellcome Research and Development, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Abstract: This paper describes the changes in the healthcare system likely to emerge as the result of the convergence of new genetics technologies and discoveries and the information revolution represented by the internet together with a number of healthcare industry trends. A comparison is made between the operations of the present healthcare ||system|| and the system that might emerge with emphasis on genetic diagnoses, personal deep portals, personal formularies, health maintenance modules, and other modules dealing with environmental factors of disease and with patient outcome evaluation and follow-up. These modules would be examples of mass customisation. The paper discusses how mass customisation is likely to proceed in healthcare, how it will need to overcome a number of barriers to development that have hampered healthcare information systems in the past, and how new management skills will be needed to develop and maintain configurers.

Keywords: pharmacogenetics; personal formularies; mass customisation; configurers; cognitive complexity; disintermediation; modularisation; e-commerce in health.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2001.001125

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2001 Vol.3 No.5/6, pp.498-518

Published online: 30 Jun 2003 *

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