The future's bright for online health industry [8/30/2000]

online health industry is showing popular growth in the US,

Some of the major findings from the study reveal that 14.6 million adults are shopping for health and beauty products on the Web, while 4.6 million of these have actually bought goods in this category.

Through online health, patients are becoming more involved in health-care management, with 25 percent of adults who visit health sites asking their doctors for specific brand-name prescriptions.

Patients want more online interaction with their doctors: just 3.7 million US adults email the doctor's office, but 33.6 million said they would like to do so.

The 'Cybercitizen Health 2000' study also dismisses some widely held misconceptions about women as health-care consumers. Women's health is not the most popular online health content type among women. While the number of women using online health community features is valuable, they are not as numerous as previously thought.

According to Carolyn Gratzer, a senior analyst in the Health Practice, "women represent the single largest consumer force in e-health, but the industry has yet to capitalize on their true value."

Source: NUA Internet Surveys

Date of Article: August 24, 2000

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