PACIFICARE: Provides Health Info via Web Site
PacifiCare Health Systems is providing members with free access to in-depth health information via its Web sites, www.pacificare.com and, and for Medicare HMO enrollees, www.securehorizons.com. The new program, entitled "Taking Charge of Your Health," provides comprehensive information on thousands of topics including medications, diagnosed conditions, medical tests, treatments, self-care options and advice on when to see a doctor. Boise-based Healthwise Inc., a nonprofit health promotion and consumer health information company, provides the information for PacifiCare's Web site, which is reviewed and updated by Healthwise's 80 doctors and specialists before it is uploaded. "Often times, doctors feel frustrated when patients access questionable information from the Internet and bring it into their office," said Dr. Sam Ho, vice president and corporate medical director of PacifiCare. "With this program, both the patient and doctor have access to credible information from a reliable source and are literally working off the same page. That common ground can facilitate better doctor-patient communication and therefore result in better health care," he said. PacifiCare reports that in January of this year its Web site generated 1.5 million hits, compared to the 5,000 per month in 1995 (release, 2/18).
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