stat tracker
Internet Use and Health Care

A number of recent surveys testify to the growing use of the Internet and e-mail by both patients and physicians. For patients, the Internet is becoming a major vehicle for quickly accessing healthcare information. For physicians, the Internet can serve multiple purposes. It's a way to market services, a growing means of communicating with patients, and a convenient conduit for exchanging information with staff members and colleagues.

Following are the results of several recent independent surveys. The results were compiled by Einstein Medical, a leader in helping medical practices market their services over the Internet:

PHOTOGRAPHER: ED HONOWITZ

Physicians on the Internet

• A recent Healtheon survey found that more than 90% of all physicians in the United States and 80% across 11 other countries are online now or intend to be in the near future.
• Harris Interactive reported that 42% of physicians work in practices that have Web sites.
• Cyber Dialog found that 59% of physicians agree that the Web will radically improve communication among patients, physicians and health plans.
• According to Harris Interactive, 55% of physicians use the Internet to communicate with colleagues; 34% use the Web to communicate with staff; and 14% use e-mail to send clinical information about patients.
• Jupiter Research reported that nearly 50% of physicians now express interest in using e-mail to communicate with patients.

Information Seekers on the Internet

• Harris Interactive found that more than 100 million Americans accessed the Internet in 2002 to seek healthcare information.
• According to Pew Internet Research, 70% of these information seekers said at least some of their healthcare purchasing decisions were influenced by information they found on the Internet.
• Cyber Dialog reported that 77% of people seeking healthcare information would like to get it directly from a physician.

In a similar vein, Jupiter Research predicts that so-called "commercial" Web sites offering healthcare information will soon give way to "more trusted" physician sites. This shift will help to unlock a $9 billion transactional market opportunity that will attract new business to medical practices that are effective in using the Internet to communicate with potential patients.

• Jupiter Research also reported that 63% of consumers said they would switch providers if a provider offered them credible Web site content, e-mail communications and/or online appointment scheduling.

How People Search the Web

According to a search count conducted by Overture for the month of October 2003:

• 35,561 consumers searched the Internet by typing the word "LASIK" into the search box of a search engine
• 18,762 consumers searched by typing the words "LASIK eye surgery"
• 10,840 consumers searched by typing the words "LASIK surgery"
• 2,364 consumers searched by typing the words "LASIK vision institute.

About this data: The data provided in this report was supplied to Ophthalmology Management by Einstein Medical, Inc., and refers to various recent surveys conducted by Cyber Dialog, Harris Interactive, Healtheon, Pew Internet Research, Jupiter Research and Overture.