Patients Benefit with Internet-Savvy Doctors

Medem, the only e-health network founded by the nation's leading medical specialty societies and the American Medical Association (AMA), says findings from its fifth Physicians' Use of the Internet study reveal that the proportion of physicians communicating directly with their patients via e-mail has sharply increased in the last year.

The largest study of physicians' use of the Internet to date shows 200 percent growth in physicians' use of e-mail with patients in less than one year. Ten percent of physicians are using e-mail on a daily or weekly basis to communicate with their patients, refuting the widely held perception that physicians are not Internet-savvy.

"Empowering the way physicians and patients communicate begins by providing them with the most authoritative healthcare information available, and extends to e-mail interactions and beyond," stated Edward Fotsch, MD, CEO of Medem.

The study also showed that the number of physicians building Web sites for their practices has doubled to more than 50 percent in the last nine months, and currently half of all physicians who responded are using the Internet in their offices on a daily basis. This reflects substantial growth from less than a year ago, when a study by the American Medical Association showed that only 37 percent of physicians were using the Web.

And while previous reports have indicated that only 25 to 30 percent of physicians who use the Internet thought it was a good resource for patient education, the latest study reveals that over 75 percent view a physician practice Web site to be a valuable tool for patient education.

However, despite taking time and effort to build a site, more than half of respondents do not actively promote their current Web site to patients. The top challenges cited by physicians surveyed were maintaining, updating and finding quality content for their sites.

"Your Practice Online addresses all of these concerns — the physician's Web site is maintained by Medem, it can be easily updated, and our clinical content comes from our partner medical societies, who are the most trusted source of healthcare information," stated Dr. Nancy Dickey, editor in chief of Medem.

Other salient results from the survey include:

• 36 percent of physicians who do not have a practice Web site plan to get one in the next year

• Younger and older physicians are equally interested in Web sites - between 50 to 60 percent of physicians, ranging from zero to 30 years in practice, have Web sites

• 70 percent of physicians have Internet access from their office.

Source: Medem