Ann Intern Med. The Internet is increasingly used to provide information to and facilitate interaction among patient, practitioner, payer, and researcher. This includes Internet visits to physicians and nurses, specialist consultations and second opinions, and myriad Web sites that provide information on treatment alternatives. Investigators are exploring uses of the Internet in population-based health and medical care research. Such uses are assumed to be beneficial because they may improve access to care while moderating costs.
Patients can also use the Internet to purchase health services directly.
We sought to describe availability of prescription pharmaceuticals to the public through the Internet. We catalogued World Wide Web sites that sell prescription pharmaceuticals directly to the lay public. Multiple search engines were used because each one uses different parameters to catalogue information. All information was obtained during February and March 1999. The perspective was that of a person seeking prescription medications or comparison price shopping.