Update: Survey Results Reported to Harvard Med School

[CGTMHI]

Thank you ALL for your participation in our recent online survey. We received more than 100 replies and were amazed by the thoughtfulness given to each comment!! As promised, here is an excerpt from our report to Havard Med School:

"Looking at the data for online medical usage and healthcare spending reveals two clear trends are revealed:

1. Internet users are increasingly going online for medical information.

2. Healthcare institutions are investing a large and growing amount of money on Information Technology.

After reviewing this data, one is tempted to quickly draw the conclusion that increases in IT spending are being driven by consumer demand for medical information and online services.

However, a real disconnect seems to exist, because the IT spending is not on consumers, rather it is on storage systems, and ways to streamline administrative processes. When we asked our online visitors how they would like to use the Internet to better interact with doctors and hospitals, the disconnect became even more apparent. Here is what we found.

• Only 11% report that they have interacted with their doctors online
• However, 83% would like to, but cannot
• 6% are not interested in doing so at all

When asked whether they would consider getting a 2nd opinion from an online source:

• 74% would be interested
• An additional 4% would be interested if they could verify the credentials of the M.D. providing the 2nd opinion.

It is our hope that we can work together to repair this disconnect between patients and providers."

Med Help International