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The Demand for Health and Medical
Information on the Internet

by Charles H. Booras, MD

"HealthMed Retrievers" represent about 37% of the general Internet user population"

"they are older, have a higher household income, are more likely to be married with children,"

"The number of HealthMed Retrievers will grow dramatically by an additional 43% within the next year."

 n the past several years, there have been dramatic revolutions in both the electronic communications and healthcare industries. The electronic communications "revolution" is best exemplified by the explosive growth of the Internet during 1995. The healthcare "revolution" is being driven by intense pressure to reduce the cost of healthcare while improving its quality. The convergence of these two industry revolutions has created both opportunities and challenges for consumers who are looking to the Internet for information about their own and their family's health and safety.

For the first time, an important new report from Find/SVP assesses and describes the American consumers' "demand" for health and medical information on the Internet. The report, "Consumer Health and Medical Information on the Internet: Supply and Demand", was written by Michael S. Brown, one of the country's leading independent experts in the strategic applications of electronics media in healthcare and medicine.

Using never-before-published data, this new report identified a previously unknown, but well-defined segment of Internet users who regularly assess the 'Nets many resources to gather health and medical information. These "HealthMed Retrievers" represent about 37% of the general Internet user population and have highly desirable demographics and psychographics that make them a sought after market for health and medical information, products and services. The number of HealthMed Retrievers will grow dramatically by an additional 43% within the next year. Estimates vary, but the predicted number of Internet users by 1998 is somewhere around 60 million, 80% of whom will be HealthMed Retrievers! The following are a few highlights from the study.

  • A profile of the HealthMed Retriever shows that, as a group, they are older, have a higher household income, are more likely to be married with children, more likely to be women and more likely to have a college education when compared to the general Internet user. They tend to use the Web for personal use daily and are more likely to visit Web sites in-depth and purchase products and services on the Internet. They are sophisticated consumers and are spending more time on the Internet and less time using print media and watching television. They agree that the Internet has a "great future as a medium for information access, communications, and education".
  • Organizations or individuals that may be providing biased or inaccurate information own more than half of the health and medical information sites on the Internet! Many of these sites stand to gain financially by the purchase of products about which they are "informing" the public.
  • Compared to the demand among HealthMed Retrievers, there is a dearth of information about treatment/prevention of injuries, prescription drugs, diet and food supplements, health insurance, and child development. There is an adequate "supply" of information about diseases.

In identifying and defining the HealthMed Retrievers for the first time, the door has been opened to exciting new opportunities for those who plan to use the Internet for activities such as distributing health-related information to the general public, providing wellness programs to employees, advertising/marketing medical services to health-conscious consumers, patients, and their families. One can conduct online clinical or market research and easily establish interactive communication with the public.

Through studies such as this one, our patients have clearly told us what they want. The American Interactive Healthcare Professional Survey showed that physicians' interest in the Internet is significantly less than the consumer demand for online health information. According to the study co-director, "When it comes to using new interactive technologies, physicians' views on the Internet vary from ambivalence to active resistance".

I feel the time has come for us to modify our negativism about using the Internet and give something back to our community. It's a self-imposed responsibility for many of us to disseminate unbiased health and medical information to the general public in order to counter the myriad of confusing and inaccurate information out there. By doing so, we may yet be able to raise the healthcare IQ of our future patients and eventually reduce the one Trillion dollars spent each year on health care (70% of which goes towards treating preventable illnesses). Our community will surely appreciate our efforts.

Charles H. Booras, MD
Co-Founder and Editor,
Jacksonville Medical Park-online