Can the Internet help patients jump the line at the doctor’s office The Silicon Valley Employers Forum, a sophisticated group of technology companies, is launching a pilot program to test online "virtual visits" between doctors at three big local medical groups and about 6 000 employees and their families. The six employers taking part in the Silicon Valley initiative, including heavy hitters such as Oracle and Cisco Systems, hope that online visits will mean employees won’t have to skip work to tend to minor ailments or to follow up on chronic conditions. "With our long commutes and traffic, driving 40 miles to your doctor in your hometown can be a big chunk of time, "says Cindy Conway, benefits director at Cadence Design Systems, one of the participating companies. Doctors aren’t clamoring to chat with patients online for free; they spend enough unpaid time on the phone. Only 1 in 5 has ever e-mailed a patient, and just 9 percent are interested in doing so, according to the research firm Cyber Dialogue. "We are not stupid," says Stifling Somers, executive director of the Silicon Valley employers group. "Doctors getting paid is a critical piece in getting this to work." In the pilot program, physicians will get $20 per online consultation, about what they get for a simple office visit. Doctors also fear they’ll be swamped by rambling e-mails that tell everything but what’s needed to make a diagnosis. So the new program will use technology supplied by Healinx, an Alameda, Calif-based star-up. Healinx’s "Smart Symptom Wizard" questions patients and turns answers into a succinct message. The company has online dialogues for 60 common conditions. The doctor can then diagnose the problem and outline a treatment plan, which could include e-mailing a prescription or a face-to-face visit. Can e-mail replace the doctor’s office Many conditions, such as persistent cough, require a stethoscope to discover what’s wrong and to avoid a malpractice suit. Even Larry Bonham, head of one of the doctor’s groups in the pilot, believes the virtual doctor’s visits offer a "very narrow" sliver of service between phone calls to an advice nurse and a visit to the clinic. The pilot program, set to end in nine months, also hopes to determine whether online visits will boost worker productivity enough to offset the cost of the service. So far, the Internet’s record in the health field has been underwhelming. The experiment is "a huge roll of the dice for Healinx", notes Michael Barrett, an analyst at Internet consulting firm Forester Research. If the "Web visits" succeed, expect some HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations) to pay for online visits. If doctors, employers, and patients aren’t satisfied, figure on one more E health star-up to stand down. Of the following people, who are not involved in the program
A. [A] Cisco System employees.
B. Advice nurses in the clinic.
C. Doctors at three local hospitals.
D. Oracle executives.
Interest is steadily spreading from a minority of enthusiasts in developing renewable sources of energy--wind, wave and solar power, tidal and geothermal energy. Additional support for them has come with a proposal to explore the untapped sources of hydro-electric power in Scotland. The details are provided by Mr. William Manser in a study provided for an expert committee to look at the developments possible for hydro-electric sites and, more important, for means of financing them. There is a clear industrial connection in Mr. Manser’s study because it was done for the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors; hydro-electric schemes, by definition, have a large civil engineering component in them. Mr. Manser estimates that wind power could theoretically provide more than 7 percent of electricity supply in the United Kingdom, provided suitable sites for generators could be found. However, the practical viability of wind power generation is not likely to be understood until 1990. Other developments using renewable energy sources are also at an early stage as far as their commercial possibilities are concerned, he believe. The best developed and most suitable form of renewable energy is, in his view, hydro power. The technology has been developed over centuries and is still progressing. At present it is the cheapest form of electricity generation. Mr. Manser studied past surveys of the north of Scotland and identified several as suitable for hydro-electric generation. Those are in the remote areas, usually of great natural beauty. But Mr. Manser says a well-designed dam can be impressive in itself. It is also possible to make installation as unobtrusive as possible, to the point of burying parts of them. Hydro generation involves no water pollution, smoke creation or unsightly stocking-out yards. The main trouble, which appears from his report, is financing an undertaking which has a heavy initial capital cost, and very low running costs. However, Mr. Manser does not see that as an unfamiliar position for the electricity industry. He cites the proposed construction of the new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk, which will have a high initial capital cost. The argument at Sizewell that the reason for the expenditure is that the capital will provide a benefit in lower costs and higher returns in the long-term, applies equally to hydro-electric generation. In Mr. Manser’s opinion, the main stumbling block to the development of hydro-electric power is the
A. [A] capital outlay.
B. running cost.
C. public expenditure.
D. financing risk.
Questions 14 to 17 are based on the following interview with Tom Kenney, the managing editor for multimedia at Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive about WashingtonPost. com. You now have 20 seconds to read Questions 14 to 17. What aspect of WashingtonPost. com has been depreciated
A. [A] Narrative storytelling.
B. Visual and editing technique.
C. Documentary photography.
D. Time and attention of audience.
Some people have returned home despite the possible danger.
A. 对
B. 错