Waiting rooms for doctors are not going away.

Virtually all US physicians go online for professional information, and 83% of these physicians say the Internet is essential to their practice,

according to Manhattan Research's latest "Taking the Pulse: US Physician Market Trends" report. The research company also said the rise of online physician communities created opportunities for pharmaceutical and healthcare marketers to learn about physician opinions and concerns. Although doctors go online to research and communicate with each other, physicians who communicate with their patients online are in the minority—nearly two-thirds of responding physicians said they did not do so, with the primary reason being concerns about liability.

For their part, US adult Internet users are ready to use a range of doctor-provided online tools and services, according to Deloitte. In fact, more than one-quarter of respondents said they would be willing to pay extra in order to get same-day appointments and electronic access to medical records and test results.

Patients preferred getting advice and information from their doctors rather than other sources. More than three-quarters of US adult Internet users surveyed by Opinion Research Corporation for iCrossing rated their primary care physician as a trusted source of health and wellness information. That was more than any other source, including the Internet.

The eMarketer Pharmaceutical Marketing Online report will be published in the fall. Click here to be notified when it is released.

Article Source: www.emarketer.com