The Internet is giving rise to a vast range of new healthcare services and service providers. Most significantly it is empowering consumers with choice and injecting competition amongst healthcare providers. After sex, books and music, health issues are the most common subject of searches on the world wide web. According to a recent Harris Poll, around 70 million Americans used the web last fiscal year for referrals about health. And they have plenty of sites to choose from with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 health related website currently available.
Most people use the web as a substitute for libraries and for chatting.
Increasingly however, the web is being used to provide services that directly compete with traditional health providers. The most popular of these are support groups which provide assistance with counselling, alternative treatments, drug options and advice. The evidence is that the support groups are proving to be highly competitive, with one recent survey rating them higher than doctors in 10 of the 12 dimension of care. On-line doctors and pharmacies are beginning to arise, particularly in the US and Canada. Although it is early days, doctors are beginning to offer on-line diagnosis, prescriptions renewals, specialist referrals, and information on treatment plans.