The changing role of health care IC card systems

Health care researchers and professionals have had increasing interest in t he development of Internet-based solutions in health care, casting doubt on the future of IC card systems. However, IC cards used in conjunction with Internet-based health information systems may be more viable than either sy stem alone. We conducted a worldwide survey to explore the possibilities of such a combined system. Our analysis shows that there is considerable awar eness of the concept of Internet-based health care services among the profe ssionals of IC card projects. In addition, our results indicate that IC car ds could play a major role in health care systems as authorization keys tha t permit access to health information. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Lt d. All rights reserved.