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Intermediation Structures in Electronic Healthcare Portals

Intermediation Structures in Electronic Healthcare Portals
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Author(s): Jonathan Wareham (Georgia State University, USA)and Richard Klein (Georgia State University, USA)
Copyright: 2001
Pages: 5
Source title: Managing Information Technology in a Global Economy
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-930708-07-5.ch106
ISBN13: 9781930708075
EISBN13: 9781466665323

Abstract

Despite the fact that commercial intermediation accounts for over 15% of the US GDP (Spulber, 1996), it has commanded limited attention from the academic community. Moreover, popular discourse has heralded the Internet’s ability to dis-intermediate supply chains and channels, directing attention away from intermediation. In contrast, this paper focuses upon a sector of the economy that has witnessed a surge in electronic intermediation, namely, the healthcare industry. Founded on a survey of leading healthcare portals, this paper documents and analyzes four predominant patterns of functional intermediation in this new form of IT-enabled commercial institution. Based upon an historical analysis of healthcare portals, functional, generalizable patterns of intermediation are posited.

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