Electronic healthcare: issues and challenges.

The shift in the nation's attention, resources and interest toward internet-related healthcare activities, often called 'e-health', is dramatic and a most significant development in the healthcare environment. E-health, while exciting and promising, also presents new challenges, particularly in regard to acceptable standards, choice of technologies, overcoming traditional jurisdictional boundaries, up-front investment and privacy and confidentiality. This paper presents e-health architecture and various issues and challenges that need to be resolved before e-health becomes commonplace.