Few Doctors Meet Patient Info Needs Online

January, 2013 – Following a January 15 research report by Pew Research Center revealing that 35 percent of Americans use the Internet to figure out a medical condition, an independent survey by Vanguard Communications found that only one-third of physicians in three American cities offer direct website help to health care consumers trying to understand their symptoms.

Here’s a breakdown of the findings:

• 300 urology, orthopedic surgeons and obstetricians-gynecologists with “100-percent patient satisfaction” ratings (as ranked by users on HealthGrades.com) from Boston, Denver and Portland, Ore. were chosen as the physician sample
• Seven out of ten: The rate of the studied physicians who were part of a website published by either a private practice or a hospital
• 45 percent, 35 percent, 26 percent: OB/GYN doctors provided some patient-friendly online information 45 percent of the time, while orthopedic (35 percent) and urology (26 percent) specialists furnished less relevant information for consumers
• 4 percent: The portion of physicians writing blogs on their websites to update patients on research and trends that could affect their health

By city			By specialty
Denver (100 surveyed)			Orthopedics (100 surveyed)
Have websites	62%		Have websites	71%
Have symptom education	26%		Have symptom education	33%
Have blogs	6%		Have blogs	1%
Portland (100 surveyed)			Urology (100 surveyed)
Have websites	67%		Have websites	59%
Have symptom education	30%		Have symptom education	17%
Have blogs	5%		Have blogs	2%
Boston (100 surveyed)			Obstetrics/Gynecology (100 surveyed)
Have websites	77%		Have websites	76%
Have symptom education	43%		Have symptom education	49%
Have blogs	2%		Have blogs	9%
Grand Total Average (300 practices)			Grand Total Average (300 practices)
Have websites	69%		Have websites	69%
Have symptom education	33%		Have symptom education	33%
Have blogs	4%		Have blogs	4%