about the unbridled potential of new technologies, the kind of thing one
might find at a large multimedia product show. Rather, the excitement came
from sharing our hopes of harnessing the new interactive, connected, and
user-driven media for improving the health of Americans. For even in 1992,
before President Clinton's legislative push for health care reform, the goals
were clear--to increase access, to improve quality, and to manage costs.
Since the conference, these criteria have become the mantras of health care
improvement; they continue to focus the enthusiasm of a growing number of
new media developers.

A book on new media and health was suggested to me at the conference
by one of its participants, a long time friend and colleague, Dr. Jennings
Bryant. Jennings recommended a book that would foster and focus the cross
fertilization between health specialists and new media developers so the
new media could be put to work to improve health. The fostering function is
served here by giving the authors, many of whom attended the conference, a
larger forum in which to offer their work. The focus comes from the now
familiar three health care improvement criteria by which these and all
researchers and developers of new health media will ultimately be judged.

The book is divided into six sections: Overview, Delivery, Health Infor-
mation, Health Education, Potholes Along the Information Superhighway,
and a new media Glossary.

The overview juxtaposes characteristics of the new media (interactive, con-
nected, and user driven) with three criteria for health care improvement:
increased access, improved quality, and cost management. It offers a "new
media and health matrix" of criteria for building and evaluating emerging
health care systems.

The section on how new media can enhance the delivery of health care
includes chapters on: (a) managed care, (b) demand management and self-
care, (c) telemedicine for rural residents, and (c) how the Internet can be
used to facilitate collaboration among health researchers and providers.

Managed care is one of the most promising organizing principles in the
health care reform movement. The Harvard Community Health Plan has
initiated a pilot project using a telecommunication network that connects
some of its members with the clinical information system used by the
clinician at one its health centers. HMO members may interact with the
system and providers from their home via minitel computers. This project
has much to teach us about the role of the new networks, their media, and

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