E-patients are using the internet to compare their options, just as they do with other major decisions,⁷ and to find the "just-in-time someone-like-me" who can aid their decision-making.

Fifty-nine percent of e-patients have done at least one of the following activities:

• 41% of e-patients have read someone else's commentary or experience about health or medical issues on an online news group, website, or blog. About half of e-patients between the ages of 18-49 have read someone else’s commentary online, compared with about one-third of e-patients ages 50 and older.
• 24% of e-patients have consulted rankings or reviews online of doctors or other providers.
• 24% of e-patients have consulted rankings or reviews online of hospitals or other medical facilities.
• 19% of e-patients have signed up to receive updates about health or medical issues. Customized health bulletins are especially popular among e-patients age 50-64: 23% have signed up to receive such updates, compared with 14% of e-patients ages 18-29, for example.
• 13% of e-patients have listened to a podcast about health or medical issues.

E-patients with a college degree are more likely than those with a high school diploma to have done the top three activities (47% have read someone else’s commentary, for example, vs. 33% of e-patients with a high school diploma). E-patients with home broadband are more likely than those with dial-up access to have done all of these activities (26% of e-patients with home broadband have consulted online reviews of health professionals, for example, vs. 18% of those with dial-up).

Other recent studies found similar trends. For example, a 2009 Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey found that a growing number of adults are “comparing doctors, hospitals, medications, devices, health plans and self remedies.”⁸ Edelman’s Health Engagement Barometer points out that “no single source of information stands out or stands alone” in the networked world of many health consumers.⁹ And yet the Center for Studying Health System Change finds that just 41% of patients have the knowledge and confidence required to manage their health in this new world.¹⁰

Indeed, the activation gap may extend online as there is not universal access to communication technologies. Someone’s “just-in-time someone-like-me” may not be online or they may not be speaking up in public forums.

Twenty percent of e-patients have done at least one of the following activities:

• 6% of e-patients have tagged or categorized online content about health or medical issues. E-patients ages 30-64 are more likely than older and younger e-patients to have tagged health content.
• 6% of e-patients have posted comments, queries, or information about health or medical matters in an online discussion, listserv, or other online group forum.
• 5% of e-patients have posted comments about health on a blog.
• 5% of e-patients have posted a review online of a doctor.
• 4% of e-patients have posted a review online of a hospital. E-patients ages 18-29 are more likely than older e-patients to have posted a hospital review.
• 4% have shared photos, videos or audio files online about health or medical issues.