THE INTERNET AND MEDICINE - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The enormous growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web has made th ese two technologies an important potential adjunct to cost-effective health care research and delivery. This article surveys some recent de velopments in telecommunications, networking and artifical intelligenc e that are likely to have a significant impact on improving the effici ency and quality of future health care. Issues discussed include: clin ical record keeping on the Internet, Internet-assisted medical diagnos is, privacy and security matters, financial transactions, digital mone y, bandwidth concerns, multimedia (music, audio and video) information delivery via the Internet, intellectual property, and the concept of Information Philanthropy.