Medical Service


The world of Medical Services can be broad-reaching and information regarding details like procedures, specialties, and breakthroughs difficult to track down. The Internet provides a wealth of useful information for those who know where to go. Once familiar with the types of available web sites and information, you will find discovering Medical Services via the Internet rewarding and educational.

The Internet excels at delivering information and nowhere is that more evident than in the Medical Services category. For every medical and health question you have, there is a Medical Service website. Sites that help you find a physician, help you understand medical language, help you get Federal or state help, and sites that will teach you about disease provide invaluable Medical Services that are important for your ability to maintain your health, recover from trauma or disease, and stay informed about developments that will affect you and your family.

As a great starting point, take a look at the US National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health's Medline Plus. This Medical Service covers over 650 diseases, contains lists of hospitals and physicians, a medical dictionary, drug information, and more.

Providers and Specialties

If you are looking for a doctor, trying to find out what a particular physician specialty encompasses, or need to know what certifications a physician needs, then this discussion of the Provider category of Medical Services may be useful. The best resources for finding a provider are the two major physician associations: American Medical Association (AMA) and American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). Every qualified physician in the US belongs to one, if not both, of these associations and both offer extensive physician search capabilities. A Board exists for almost every specialty (and some sub-specialties) as well, other associations also exist, most of which provide a valid service to the physicians that belong to them and to the public. However, only the AMA and ABMS provide certification and oversight for the physician community.

If you need to know more about physician specialties like oncology and geriatrics, then you might review the specialist list provided by the ABMS on their site. Certainly the best way to find information on what a specialty entails is to do a web search specifically on that specialty. For example, do a search specifically on “oncologists.” This search will yield results along the lines of physician websites, specialty association websites, and interest group websites.

An interesting take on the Medical Service that enables you to search for a physician is a site called “Best Doctors®.” Referring to itself as a medical knowledge company, Best Doctors provides medical information, physician search and guides to support groups—all for a price. For a fee Best Doctors says it can find you the best doctor or specialist, provide you a qualified second opinion in case of illness, and provide you a personal advocate to help you handle making appointments, collecting paperwork and so on. Given the complexity of health care, it is likely that this type of Medical Service will grow in the future.

Medical Information Services

Internet resources in the area of disease and treatment information are plentiful. These Medical Services offer sites that can help you better understand disease and point you toward support groups, journals and research entities that can further your understanding of the world of medicine. You will find a mixture of resources from a site like WebMD® that presents basic information in an easy to read, easy to understand format, to eMedicine® whose articles, written by specialists, are more in-depth and clinical in nature. In addition, the US government has many Medical Services to offer in the form of information and news (as well as many Federally-funded healthcare programs).

By MS Kauffman           


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