Physicians have doubled their time online since 2004

The head of a New York-based healthcare market research firm says physicians who might have spent four hours a week online in 2004 are now spending at least eight hours in front of a computer. Physicians were barely aware of the Internet as late as 2003 and most certainly didn't see it as essential to their practice. Now, he said, they view the Internet as a much more valuable - and time-consuming - tool. Nine in 10 U.S. physicians surveyed now agree that the Internet is essential to their practice, according to Bard's research. Seventy-five percent now go online daily for work, he said. As for consumers, 90 million U.S. adults went on online for health information in 2004. Today, the number is 160 million, Bard said, and the majority of e-health consumers are now using the Internet after seeing a doctor.