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Verispan Reports: 79% of Physicians Encourage Patients to Use the Internet for Medical Information

Posted on: Thursday, 13 July 2006, 09:00 CDT

According to Verispan's Pharmaceutical Company Image 2006, 79% of physicians reported that they encourage patients to use the Internet for medical information.

When asked what Web site they frequent most often for medical information, 31% of consumers reported utilizing WebMD. Search engines Google and Yahoo! earned 7% and 4% of mentions, respectively, followed by the Mayo Clinic with 3% of mentions.

Nineteen percent of consumers surveyed indicated that they had ordered prescription products over the Internet. Notably, older consumers were significantly more likely to order prescriptions over the Web; 26% of respondents age 55 or older reported that they had ordered prescriptions online, compared with 17% of consumers younger than 55.

Medco.com received the largest share of consumer responses for the Web site visited to order prescription products online (26%). ExpressScripts.com ranked second with 11% of all consumer mentions, followed by Walgreens.com with 9%.

About Pharmaceutical Company Image

Pharmaceutical Company Image is a comprehensive biennial analysis of pharmaceutical company and industry image as perceived by key healthcare professionals. The 2006 version represents the eighth edition of this landmark study and enables market researchers and brand management to:

-- Evaluate a company's overall image relative to market success and increases in prescribing.

-- Validate corporate initiatives to promote overall company image.

-- Understand the importance of company attributes among key customer groups.

-- Identify whether direct-to-consumer advertising drives consumer perceptions of pharmaceutical manufacturers.

For more information about Pharmaceutical Company Image or other studies in Verispan's Strategic Studies suite, please contact Tara Hamm at (267) 685-4423.

About Verispan

Verispan, a healthcare informatics joint venture of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and McKesson Corp., provides a broad array of information products and services to the healthcare industry, including sales targeting and compensation products; market research audits; healthcare profiles; comprehensive managed care offerings; primary market research; data integration, warehousing and mining; data analysis and consulting; direct mail; list services; disease management studies; clinical trial investigator targeting and protocol recruitment evaluation; healthcare outcomes; and cost/benefit analyses, among many others. Verispan is also the nation's leading provider of patient-centric longitudinal data, with dozens of products used by clients spanning the industry.

Headquartered in Yardley, Pa., Verispan employs over 500 dedicated healthcare information professionals. The company's Web site is www.verispan.com.

Source: Business Wire

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