I n the past few months, several conferences have addressed the business of health care on the Internet. Businesses anticipate that 60 billion dollars annually will be spent on health care information services in the next several years. Obviously there are opportunities for business to grow in this health care information area, and the trend toward more information, more connectivity, and more patient oriented information will provide many new services for physicians who incorporate the Internet into their practices. The topic of a conference on Physicians and the Internet, held this month in San Francisco, provides some important insights.
Surveys show an increasing number of physicians use the Internet for practice-related activity.
Patients, however, are not as shy. This trend, and the corresponding growth of consumer medical Web sites, will significantly change the way patients approach their physicians with medical information. Many of the medical information Web sites are directed to patients, rather than physicians. Often this information is available to patients on the Web before the usual medical channels provide it to physicians. Potentially the physician could be confronted with new therapies of which the patient is aware before the physician has the opportunity to evaluate data supporting the value of the treatment.