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Panel Detail:

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
3:35 PM - 4:50 PM

The Internet and Your Health

Moderator:

Steve Downs, Deputy Director, Health Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Adam Bosworth of Google tells the audience that Internet users search for health-related web sites for various reasons. At left is Wayne Gattinella, whose company, WebMD, runs one of those sites.

Gattinella noted that a million registered doctors are coming to WebMD each month. It is common for large physician groups to turn to the Internet as the source of information, he added. Smaller physician groups have not yet used the web to such an extent.

Adam Bosworth of Google said that Internet users are searching for health-related web sites for various reasons. They may seek information for use as a diagnostic tool concerning their own symptoms; to learn about specific institutions, doctors and caregivers; to search out the latest research and health news; or to locate other people or support groups coping with same disease, particularly in connection with the chronic and recurring diseases.

At the same time, the panelists agreed, while both patients and physicians are turning to Internet, it is important to distinguish what they are trying to achieve. Some doctors feel threatened by their patients' Internet searches of symptoms. The chief problem, of course, is that sourcing may not be accurate or even legitimate. "Doctors have little time to see a patient," said David Agus of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, "and here comes a patient with lot of printouts from the web. The question is, how useful is the information?"

What is more helpful is when doctors themselves direct their patients to reputable health sites for information. "Seventy percent of doctors actually do refer their patients to web sites," explained Agus. It wasn't so long ago that physicians downplayed the use of online information altogether; nowadays, they're needed as guides through an overabundance of information, some of which is not helpful.

Another challenge lies in electronic health records (EHRs) and patient privacy. With the use of HER, about 7,000 lives can be saved annually, lives otherwise put in risk because of handwriting errors or other simple human mistakes. For instance, said Glen Tullman of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, 93 percent of all prescriptions are written outside the hospital. But if information on patients were kept easily accessible and available, medication errors and other safety issues would decrease. EHRs can be part of databases so that all the information on a patient is available with a single click. There are privacy concerns, but at the same time, there is a need to share this information, said Gattinella, adding that health information needs to be portable, uninterrupted and transparent. And the Internet can allow all this to happen.

The Internet has also provided employers with better outreach to large groups of people. Corporate awareness of the benefits of employee health are paying off, said Gattinella, and some companies even include their efforts on behalf of employee wellness in their missions statements.

In the conclusion, all speakers agreed that health and the Internet will grow more interconnected. Medical school graduates now have interactive medical educational backgrounds. But online information is simply a means to an end, and physicians and patients need to share their information. And while the Internet is changing how patient-physician relationships develop, it is still just a tool to help people stay healthy, said Steve Downs of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. And Bosworth noted, "The problem is that a lot of patients are walking with much more information, but still so many of them may have a disease and may be not diagnosed."

It's good that patients come to the doctors with already researched information," said Tullman. In 10 years at most, he added, we will look back at doctors who didn't use Internet today and think their hesitation was absurd. "It′s impossible to keep all that information in your head, so it is normal to rely on the Internet as a source of information that is easily accessed," he said.

The Internet, he concluded, should be used in addition to a physician. "If it's used as a substitute to a doctor, we will fail."

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