This Pew Internet/California HealthCare Foundation survey finds that technology is not an end, but a means to accelerate the pace of discovery, widen social networks, and sharpen the questions someone might ask when they do get to talk to a health professional. Technology can help to enable the human connection in health care and the internet is turning up the information network’s volume.

61% of American adults look online for health information.

In 2000, 46% of American adults had access to the internet, 5% of U.S. households had broadband connections, and 25% of American adults looked online for health information. Now, 74% of American adults go online, 57% of American households have broadband connections, and 61% of adults look online for health information. We use the term “e-patient” to describe this group.

Further, “always present” mobile access draws people into conversations about health as much as online tools enable research.

Among the six in ten e-patients who say their most recent search had an impact, mostly minor, on their own health or the way they care for someone else:

• 60% say the information found online affected a decision about how to treat an illness or condition.
• 56% say it changed their overall approach to maintaining their health or the health of someone they help take care of.
• 53% say it lead them to ask a doctor new questions, or to get a second opinion from another doctor.
• 49% say it changed the way they think about diet, exercise, or stress management.
• 38% say it affected a decision about whether to see a doctor.
• 38% say it changed the way they cope with a chronic condition or manage pain.

Fully 42% of all adults, or 60% of e-patients, say they or someone they know has been helped by following medical advice or health information found on the internet. This represents a significant increase since 2006 when 25% of all adults, or 31% of e-patients, said that.

 Just 3% of all adults, or 3% of e-patients, say they or someone they know has been harmed by following medical advice or health information found on the internet, a finding that has remained stable since 2006.