Expanding the Reach and Impact of Consumer e-Health Tools - Executive Summary: "e-Health tools offer consumers a broad range of integrated, interactive functions including those listed below. Most tools support several of these functions, generally structured around a primary purpose such as disease management.
* Health information—either a spectrum of searchable information or more narrowly defined content
* Behavior change/prevention—support for a specific behavior change such as smoking cessation
* Health self-management—tools for achieving and maintaining healthy behavior in lifestyle areas such as diet and exercise
* Online communities—Internet-based communities for interaction among consumers, patients, or informal caregivers about shared health concerns
*Decision support—structured support for making treatment decis
ions, choosing and evaluating insurance programs or healthcare providers, or managing healthcare benefits
* Disease management—monitoring, recordkeeping, and communication devices for managing a chronic disease, usually in conjunction with healthcare providers
* Healthcare tools—means of maintaining or accessing health records and interacting with healthcare providers."