Online Communication in Medicine
Aside from email, internet based communication between medical professionals, patients, pharmacies and institutions are still clearly in its infancy. In Europe, the Journal of Medical Internet Research reported in April of 2011 that only 1.8% of those canvassed has communicated with their doctors using online methods. In the US, the Pew Research Center released a report showing 91% of patients still only use face-to-face methods of communication with their medical professionals. There is no data on the level of online communication between differing medical entities, such as doctor-pharmacist or hospital-medical insurance company. However, with the exception of the real estate industry, it seems as though the medical industry is a large part of the reason the fax machine still exists today.