Research Shows 42 Percent Growth in Physician Use of Internet in Last Three Months
Healtheon Study Attributes Increase to Robust Content and Ease of Use
SAN FRANCISCO, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Healtheon Corporation (Nasdaq: HLTH - news), a leading e-commerce provider for healthcare, today released findings from its Internet Survey of Medicine(TM), revealing that 85 percent of physicians surveyed are currently using the Internet. This is an increase in regular online activity by doctors of 42 percent in the last three months, and a jump of 875 percent from 1997.
Key findings from the ongoing research project, which chronicles nearly 10,000 physicians' computer needs and expectations over the last three years, were presented this morning at the Physicians on the Internet Conference in San Francisco. The conference, attended by more than 300 physicians and executives from the country's leading physician and healthcare delivery organizations, is examining the special needs and barriers as well as privacy issues surrounding the use of the Internet by healthcare professionals.
The survey data indicates that physicians, traditionally considered as slow adopters of new computer technology, have continued to embrace the Internet and online services. More than 63 percent of the physicians surveyed use e-mail daily and 33 percent have used e-mail to communicate with patients. Doctor-patient communication via e-mail has jumped 200 percent in the last year and nearly 20 percent in the last three months; e-mail for professional communications has increased by 33 percent in the last year. Electronic communications between patients and their doctors did not even register as a significant behavior when physicians were surveyed in 1997.
''Physicians are indicating that they are now seeing the services they need to deliver better care -- such as secure e-mail capabilities and practice Web sites -- and have a greater incentive for joining the Internet revolution,'' said Ed Fotsch, MD., vice president of member organizations for Healtheon, the division responsible for the ISM research. ''Yet while they are anxious to add more patient-focused medical information and interactive communications services with patients to their Internet experience, patient security and privacy cannot be sacrificed in the name of technology.''
More than 34 percent of the respondents noted that security remains a primary concern in the use of e-mail or other interactive Internet services. Other stumbling blocks for Internet adoption include: the lack of time, 49 percent; lack of meaningful network content and services, 20 percent; and, cost, 10 percent.
Physicians and group practices with Web sites represent approximately 30 percent of the medical professionals surveyed; nearly a third of the specialty medical associations offer a Web site for their members. An additional 16 percent of doctors plan to post a Web site for their practice within the year.
According to Fotsch, there are several trends that can be tracked from the data collected from members of some of the nation's leading physician organizations. ''Medical professionals want to establish a dialogue with their patients that is better than ill-timed phone calls and messages. The changes in attitude and use in the last few months even caught our researchers off guard -- many of the burgeoning trends that we saw last year are now becoming realities.''
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