Your family doc bustles into the examination room and without saying a word, pulls out a Palm Pilot, taps the screen and pauses to read something on it. The last time you were at this clinic, the guy was carrying around dog-eared manila folders on a clipboard.

He looks up. "So," he says, "you've had a sore throat for a few days?" Yes you have, but it was only a few minutes ago that you apprised the nurse receptionist of this fact. How the devil does he know it already?

Dr. Hightech goes on to ask you more questions and appears to be making notes on the PDA screen. After the popsicle stick on the tongue, the aaaahhhing and the rest of it, you go back out to the nurse receptionist and she smiles and hands you a prescription, neatly printed. She also hands you an itemized bill -- a very complete, detailed bill.

What's up, doc? Welcome to the medical clinic of the -- well, of the present. The medical profession, which has long been on the high-tech leading edge when it came to diagnostics and surgery, is finally beginning to automate day-to-day patient care in clinics.