Physicians visit pharma sites, but don't refer patients there

Physicians visit pharma sites, but don't refer patients there
Although 71% of physicians say they have visited pharma Web sites for information, only 28% said they have referred a patient there, according to a survey of 319 physicians from the MD Net Guide and Oncology Net Guide. The most common reason physicians gave for not referring patients to pharma sites was a concern about biased or narrowly focused information. However, physicians do use the Internet for themselves, with 70% of respondents participating in eCME and 88% considering the Internet an important source of specialty specific information. The survey also showed that doctors most commonly searched online for clinical information (85%), online CME (70%), and drug information (68%). Only 30% of physicians said they searched online for health IT information, according to the survey.