Abstract

As the volume of available resources on the Internet continues to expand, more people turn to the Web first when researching healthcare topics and conditions. In fact, nearly three quarters--73 percent--of 12,000 Internet users in a recent survey conducted by Gomez Advisors Inc., a Lincoln, Mass.-based research and consulting company, reported that they had researched a health condition on the Web. Conducting research on a particular health condition on the Internet often yields vast amounts of information, much of it not relevant, specific, or even accurate. Therefore, it is important to tailor a search to elicit results that will be the most precise to a specific situation. Web sites that use "push technology," such as targeted e-mail, rather than a passive site that must be visited and surfed through, offer a more effective way of obtaining "just-in-time" information. Such sites are able to reach people with pertinent information that will spark their interest, assist them in formulating questions when speaking to their physicians, and, above all, improve their own well-being. This article discusses a particular push technology strategy, how outcomes information was obtained to validate the strategy, and the results for a particular healthcare diagnosis.