Because not everyone receives the same health care, other parts of the health industry will be required to segment themselves into tiers that make more intelligent use of patient information. Some of this will be aimed at more effective use of treatments and drugs (Wharton, 2002). If, for example, a hospital system has a regional primary care network of thirty physician practices, the system might expand to a national network of three hundred specialists and begin accepting referrals from a national network of physician practices. Several levels of fine cost segmentation could then occur, and treatment costs could be spread among this larger network of
