More turn to Net for medical info

Patients get less time with their physicians.

RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER

Rich Leber started poking around for information after a disturbing trend in his PSA, a marker for prostate cancer, was detected during his annual physical. After a biopsy revealed he had Stage 3 cancer — meaning the cancer had spread — he began researching the subject in earnest. And not in the research library at his local university medical school.

“I spent a lot of time on the Web,” says Leber, a Chapel Hill resident who was diagnosed at age 54.

Leber wanted all the information he could find, both to help him understand what was wrong and, more important, to help him make informed decisions about his treatment. It was a move driven by necessity: With precious little face time with his doctor, he knew the burden was on him to determine not just his treatment, but his fate.

“Patients’ time with physicians has dwindled,” says Dr. Wes Lawson, chief medical officer at WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh, N.C.

According to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2005, 95 million Americans had turned to the Internet for medical information. In a typical day, the report noted, more Americans went online for medical information than to their doctor’s office.

Growing number

Anecdotal information suggests that number is rising.

“One thing I found surprising,” says Leber, who heads a prostate cancer survivors’ support group, “is that my surgeon at Duke told me that three years ago maybe 60 percent of his patients were on the Internet. Today, virtually every patient has Internet questions.”

“Clearly,” notes WakeMed’s Lawson, “it can be a real opportunity for patients to learn stuff they might not have time to absorb during their time with the doctor.”

In past lives, Bill Allman was a medical writer for U.S. News & World Report and coordinator of the Discovery Channel’s various medical Web sites. Today, he’s general manager of one of the latest entries in the medical Web site field, the 18-month-old HealthCentral Network (www.HealthCentral.com). He believes three things are driving consumer thirst for online medical information.

“The population is aging and we’re starting to see chronic conditions pop up,” says Allman.

There’s a more pragmatic motivator as well.

“Consumers are being asked to take a bigger role in their insurance,” says Allman. With convoluted co-pays and reimbursement programs, “you’re required to be much more involved.”

And there’s the fact that the nature of disease in general has changed. “Most of the diseases that killed our grandparents a couple of generations ago are now under control,” Allman says. Or at least can be if you manage them.

“With heart disease, with diabetes, if you’re concerned about your health you can make a real tangible impact on your health,” he says.