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Update on Physicians and the Internet: Massive e-Health Spending Fails to Spur Physician Use, Acceptance of Internet

NEW YORK, July 12, 2000 - A new study indicates that in spite of the vast amounts invested in e-health, physicians still under-utilize the Internet, have little interest in Internet-based medical applications -- other than basic informational uses -- and are skeptical about the Internet's potential benefit to healthcare.

Only 27% of physicians believe the Internet will save the health system money in the next five years, and less than half feel it will improve physician-patient communications. The survey of physicians who access the Internet was conducted online by WebSurveyMD.com, a new service from Ziment, a top healthcare research organization.

"The online healthcare industry is expected to expand to nearly $400 billion in the next five years, but greater physician buy-in is necessary for it to live up to its potential," stated Howard Ziment, managing director of Ziment and vice president of the Interactive Marketing Research Organization. "Some of the developing Internet-based technologies and services targeted to physicians may fail unless physician needs and interests are more clearly understood."

Physicians Not Interested in e-Health Technologies
Only one-third or fewer of the physicians expressed significant interest in using the Internet for communicating with patients, consulting with colleagues, participating in clinical trials or filing patient insurance claims.

As many as 20 companies are currently developing technology platforms for writing prescriptions online, but the survey revealed that few physicians (19%) are actually very interested in using this application in the future.

Contrary to the popular assumption that younger physicians are more interested in online activities, age did not appear to be a factor. Surprisingly, interest in many of these applications is even lower among physicians who rate themselves as highly "Internet-savvy."

"The lack of physician enthusiasm for many of the developing e-health technologies is cause for the industry to be concerned," continued Ziment. "Especially disturbing is the even lower level of interest among more savvy Internet-using physicians, who would have been expected to be early adopters for these technologies."

Physician Use of Internet Is Largely Informational
Most of the physicians surveyed use the Internet for informational or educational purposes, including gathering information about drugs or medical products (75%) or treatments (68%) and taking continuing medical education (CME) courses (45%). In spite of the American Medical Association's position that e-mail communications between doctors and patients could streamline discussion of routine health matters, relatively few physicians (20%) use it to communicate with patients. Few use the Internet to consult with colleagues (19%), participate in clinical trials (16%) or file patient insurance claims (12%).

Under-utilization of Professional Sites
As part of the survey, physicians reported their familiarity, use and ratings of a sampling of 11 physician-oriented sites that represent the range of existing general sites. Utilization of these sites was relatively low, with only 26% of possible visits actually occurring, and only 13% resulting in registration at the site.

Internet Applications That Physicians Do Want
Physicians did express significant interest in two developing technologies: 41% were very interested in using the Internet to practice medicine remotely, such as through an audiovisual link. When asked on an open-ended basis to name the "killer ap" that could most transform the practice of medicine or improve quality of care, 21% volunteered the response "online access to medical records."

Survey Methodology
The survey was completed by 257 Family Practitioners, General Practitioners and Internists, sampled from WebSurveyMD.com's national, online, physician research panel. Randomly selected panel members responded to an e-mail request to participate in the survey by clicking on a link to the site, where they responded to the survey questions online.

About WebSurveyMD.com and Ziment, Inc.
WebSurveyMD.com is an online tool for using primary research to assess physician awareness, attitudes and behaviors. The new online service was created to allow rapid, accurate survey research among larger samples of physicians than traditional survey research methods allow, and features the world's largest dedicated research panel of physicians. Ziment, based in New York City, is among the largest market research organizations in the nation, and is an industry leader in physician interviewing, having surveyed more than 20,000 physicians in 1999 alone.

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