With the aid of the American Medical
Association, Intel Corp. Tuesday launched a business that
develops online credential services to enable bonafide health
communications and transactions on the Net.
Intel’s (INTC)
Internet Authentication Services (IAS) will help leading health care
organizations to produce “online health cards,” credentials so that doctors
and patients may establish trust before health information is offered and
accessed.
Intel said the AMA will issue physicians credentials beginning next year.
The move will make it possible for doctors to access a host of online
physician services that require identity authentication.
The ID will also be acknowledged by participating e-health sites that
desire to offer doctor-patient interactions online.
“Making the Web a more trusted place is key to helping the health care
industry the move to the Internet,” said Ronald J. Whittier, senior vice
president and general manager of Intel Content Services. “We are enabling a
new level of trust for e-health services that can make doctors more
efficient, reduce health care costs, and improve patient satisfaction and
care.”
Physicians service providers Healtheon/WebMD and MedQuist will assist Intel and the AMA
with the credential initiation process.
Healtheon (HLTH)
said Tuesday it would accept the AMA physician credential to allow
transactions between physicians and service providers such as hospitals and
pharmacies.
Medquist (MEDQ)
said it will also accept the credential to help doctors store and retrieve
patient charts over secure Net connections.