Business Opportunities Weblog

More Than Half Of Americans Use Net For Health

By on February 5, 2010 in Ideas

Reuters reports that more than half of Americans looked up health information on the Internet last year.

But only 5 percent used email to communicate with their doctors, the survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found.

Researcher at the center used a survey of 7,192 adults aged 18 to 64 questioned between January and June 2009.

“From January through June 2009, 51 percent of adults aged 18-64 had used the Internet to look up health information during the past 12 months,” the center, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.

“Among adults aged 18-64, women were more likely than men to look up health information on the Internet (58 percent versus 43 percent) and were also more likely to use online chat groups to learn about health topics (4 percent versus 2.5 percent).”

The survey found 6 percent of adults requested a refill of a prescription on the Internet, and almost 3 percent had made an appointment with a healthcare provider in the previous 12 months using the Internet.

Other researchers have found doctors are reluctant to use the Internet or email to communicate with patients because of concerns about privacy as well as confusion about how to charge for their time.

Photo by lusi.

healthcare internet

Rich Whittle has added 6,226 posts to Business Opportunities Weblog.

Another Idea: How to Start a Health Centers For Corporations Business

  • http://wellescent.com/health_forum/ Wellescent Health Community

    Another important aspect of the internet is allowing those with medical conditions to find others with experience living with a given condition. While a doctor is there to provide the best services medicine has to offer, he or she can only talk about the disease factually in most cases and will not have the personal experience to talk about what living with a condition is really all about. In such situations, online health communities are of considerable value to allow members to share experiences and opinions.

Today's Posts