Intermediation Structures in Electronic Healthcare Portals

Abstract

Despite the fact that commercial intermediation accounts for over 15% of the US GDP (Spulber, 1996), it has commanded limited attention from the academic community. Moreover, popular discourse has heralded the Internet’s ability to dis-intermediate supply chains and channels, directing attention away from intermediation. In contrast, this chapter focuses upon a sector of the economy that has witnessed a surge in electronic intermediation, namely, the healthcare industry. Founded on a survey of leading healthcare portals, this paper documents and analyzes four predominant patterns of functional intermediation in this new form of IT-enabled commercial institution. Based upon an historical analysis of healthcare portals, functional, generalizable patterns of intermediation are posited.