HEALTHCARE ON THE INTERNET
There are many potential advantages to healthcare marketing on the Internet. As stated by Kerwin (2002), the Internet can be a fundamental component of a healthcare organization’s business and marketing strategy while improving the quality of patient care and satisfaction. One has to make sure that these two areas are combined properly. For instance, patients like to have user-friendly websites to address their specific healthcare needs. When these sites include valuable and comprehensive information at low cost, some of the basic marketing expenditures decrease, and the final strategy results in a more cost efficient marketing. As suggested by Shinkman (2000), internet-based practice management, catering to physician needs as well as customer needs, and coordinating patient appointments and referrals, can replace the unnecessary back-office management in the future. An application that combines the Internet with the Electronic Medical Records significantly reduces the need for redundant data entry and manual tasks while at the same time facilitating communication between physicians, insurance companies, and patients (Smithline and Christenson 2001). As one moves up in the use of the Internet, there may be additional benefits and cost savings. For example, as healthcare organizations adopt Internet-en- abled materials management and e-procurement, they can actually lower the costs of their supply chain management processes and improve their financial wealth (Gee 2002; Wolf 2003).