BOOK IN PROCESS: e-Patients Live Longer is a book developed to guide consumers through a maze of 21st century healthcare issues to help these individuals understand how to empower themselves and choose health options wisely. The book discusses how deploying the same tools that people use in their work and at home: email, the Internet, digital databases, mobile smart phones, and the web help them live longer, healthier and smarter.

The book also discusses privacy of health information, the quagmire of health insurance options and the promise of personalized medicine. It includes advice, anecdotal stories, guidelines and resources that help e-Patients become better informed. It describes why it is critical to every patient's personal safety and well being that they initiate ongoing communication with their provider team using these technologies.

e-Patients Live Longer illustrates in graphic detail how the e-patient is empowered by creating a personal health record that is owned by the individual and always available no matter where in the world or when the patient

might require care. It discusses how e-patients can use email, patient portals, and instant messaging to schedule appointments, access test results and research healthcare options. It pinpoints where on the Internet, with its vast information resources, e-patients can find the medical information to make better healthcare choices. This book also describes how, using telemedicine technology, patients who live in remote areas obtain second opinions and consult and receive services from super specialists at major medical centers with their local doctor present. Readers of e-Patients Live Longer who suffer with chronic conditions will learn about technologies that enable them to work with their healthcare team to monitor their condition via the Internet 24/7 using computers, telephone lines and cameras, robotics, and other digital widgets. The book outlines how medication can now be ordered electronically and stored in a personal online file, eliminating so many of the mistakes that cause adverse reaction, medical errors, even death.