III. INTERNET APPLICATIONS
Internet can serve as the backbone for implementing supply
chain solutions to add value to health care providers, their sup-
pliers, and their patients. Even though health care information
systems in some hospitals and clinics have been linked together
with a local area network or a wide area network [2], network-
based health care systems have not been popular until the ad-
vent of the Internet. The three primary Internet applications that
the healthcare industry uses, to varying degrees, are the Internet,
intranets, and extranets.