Within the last 18 months a major shift in information technology has occurred. This shift was driven by the rapid acceptance and rise in popularity of the world wide web and the possibilities presented by its wide spread use. The Web Browser has become the focal point of the desktop due to its power to integrate voice, e-mail, sound, images, and data into a single window in a platform independent application. This has greatly changed the way in which information could be accessed, distributed, and handled.

The strength in these new technologies lies in their ability to present a single- window, consistent in look and feel, with platform independence, to a vast and disparate collection of data, machines and data presentation styles. The user is totally insulated from and unaware of where the information is, how it is being retrieved, and the underlying security which monitors the transactions. The ease, speed and simplicity of the hypertext method of presentation that these new technologies offer has totally transformed how people view computing. Taken together, the power of its data gathering and the friendliness of its presentation provide a method to inform doctors, staff, administrators, and insurance companies of events in advance and force protocol continuity network wide. Since these technologies have an extremely low impact on network architecture and can use existing computing hardware, the hindrances to deployment are minimal, and the users' acceptance and willingness to embrace is great.