Monday - September 25, 2000

Online HealthCare Sites First Stop for Third of Medical Advice Seekers

One in three US home Internet users utilizes the Internet as his or her first source for medical advice, according to a new survey released by PC Data Online.

The study also revealed that healthcare/medical sites are among the most popular sites on the web, with three in five home Internet users saying they visited a site in the past year. Entertainment sites (77.5 percent) attracted more users.

Almost sixty percent (58.6 percent) of respondents who visited healthcare/medical sites in the past year did so for information concerning symptoms for diagnostic purposes. Another 56.2 percent went for information on general medical issues, 42.6 percent for information on wellness and fitness, and 41.7 percent for prescription information.

Eighty-five percent of respondents said they planned to spend the same or more time at healthcare/medical sites next year, while 71 percent said visits to online sites were not substitutes for consultations with a doctor.

"Healthcare sites won't replace the family doctor, but they are evolving into the first line of defense for users with medical concerns," said Sean Wargo, senior analyst with PC Data Online. "The survey suggests that the medical community is now treating better educated patients -- or at least people who have more information upon which they are basing medical decisions."

The study results come from a sample of 1,618 US home Internet users, taken from PC Data Online's panel of over 120,000. The sample was weighted by age and gender to represent the US home Internet population. It was fielded between September 11-14, 2000. At a 95 percent confidence level, it has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.

While users seemed inclined to go to healthcare/medical sites for information, they were less inclined to go to pharmaceutical sites for medication. The study revealed that just 6.9 percent have had a prescription filled at an online pharmacy. While this suggests huge growth potential for online pharmacies, 84 percent of respondents said they expected their prescription buying practices to remain unchanged. Almost 11 percent (10.6 percent) said they expected their online purchasing of prescription medication to increase in the next year.

Other findings were:

The most recognized healthcare/medical sites were: webmd.com (46.7 percent), drkoop.com (31.1 percent), discoveryhealth.com (25.5 percent) and onhealth.com(20.1 percent).

The most recognized online pharmacy sites were: planetrx.com (27.7 percent), cvs.com (25.5 percent), drugstore.com (24 percent) and walgreens.com (23.7 percent).

Respondents said they decided to purchase from online pharmacies to avoid crowds (52.2 percent) or for the convenience of having prescriptions delivered at home (43.2 percent). Thirty six percent said they found prices at online pharmacies better than at brick-and-mortar stores.

Respondents said they decided not to purchase from online pharmacies because they thought it was just as convenient to go to a bricks-and-mortar pharmacy (33.2 percent), they preferred to talk to a pharmacist in person (31.6 percent), or they did not want to pay a shipping charge (31.5 percent).

Less than five percent of respondents went to a chat room in the past year for information about a medical problem. Of those who did visit a chat room, 87 percent said it was somewhat, very or extremely useful.

Health insurance sites were more widely visited than hospitals'. Almost 68 percent of those whose health insurance provider has an online presence visited the site, while only 20 percent said they visited a hospital site.

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