SAN FRANCISCO -- The health-care industry had better get moving and embrace technology or else be doomed to remain in the dark ages, Intel Chairman Andy Grove said Tuesday.
Grove, who runs the world's biggest computer chipmaker and has a lot of influence in setting the direction of the PC industry, told a crowd of about 700 physicians and health-care executives that their industry is at an "inflection point." Organizations can act quickly and take advantage of this point -- a moment where technological advances or economic forces upheave an industry -- or risk being left behind.
"If you want to prosper on the other side of the strategic inflection point, you must take action before you get there," Grove said at the Intel Health Day conference, a gathering of health-care professionals, including doctors, insurance representatives, and technology companies. "It is extremely difficult to replay history and to correct for the action that you didn't take."
The US$1 trillion industry can take basic steps, such as using email and Web-based applications to streamline communication between doctors, patients, pharmacies, and insurers, Grove said.
Patients already use the Internet to get information about their ailments before visiting the doctor. About 43 percent of online consumers, for example, searched for health information on the Internet in 1997. There are 15,000 health-related sites. And 60 percent of doctors report that their patients are bringing computer printouts of research to their examination.
The patients' involvement with the Internet will force doctors -- one of the least Net-savvy class of professionals -- to adopt the Internet, Grove said.
"If nothing else, self-defense prompts you to take some action," he said.
Grove discussed his own introduction to online health research, when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994.
"At the time, I was stuck with my laptop in a mountain cabin," he said. Grove was without a trusty medical reference book he usually used to research health problems, so he went online through CompuServe. "I found all the elements in a matter of the first hour being online. I reviewed papers written by doctors, I found a support group. It opened up a whole field of knowledge."
Eventually, Grove formulated his own course of treatment, and his cancer has been in remission.
Grove chastised doctors for not using even email to improve their practice. He said 68 percent of doctors use email to communicate with friends and colleagues, but only 2 percent email patients.
There were three demonstrations during Grove's speech, including one of America's Doctor service on America Online, which includes a chat service for medical advice and access to 6,700 news articles. Another demonstration was of CHESS, a program that puts computers in homes of patients with illnesses like breast cancer and AIDS, linking them to online information, community areas, and support groups.
Of course, Intel would benefit if the health-care industry adopts the PC as its main tool.
"Intel has a lot to gain from increasing the penetration of PCs in the general population," according to a recent report by market researcher Gartner Group. "Intel is aiming to bring health care into the top-three uses [of PCs]."
