Healthcare and technology: the doctrine of networkcentric healthcare

Worldwide costs and the disparity between healthcare in the Western world and the developing countries increase exponentially. Increased involvement of ICT allows, in similarity to the military, a transition from platformcentric to more cohesive and collaborative networkcentric operations. In the information-intensive environment of healthcare, the networkcentric approach allows free and rapid sharing of information and effective knowledge building required for the development of coherent objectives and their rapid attainment. We suggest that the application of the proposed networkcentric doctrine is arguably the best chance of changing the way healthcare is accessed, provided and managed both nationally and across the globe.