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308 James E. Katz, Ronald E. Rice, and Sophia K. AcordTable 13.4Physician reports of the percentage of their patients who talkedto them in person about information that the patient has obtainedfrom the InternetAlmost all (81–100%) 0.2Most (61–80%) 1.9About half (41–60%) 6.3Some (21–40%) 25.6Few (1–20%) 48.7No discussion of Internet material with any patient in past 12 months 14.7n = 1022.Source: Adapted from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation data (2001)presenting them with information from the Internet (see table 13.5). Thesubstantial majority finds the information accurate, feels that this use of onlineinformation shows that patients are taking responsibility for their healthcare,and that such presentations are not challenges to physician authority. (Notably,positive attitudes seem inversely related to physician’s age.) Those whoconsidered such presentations as challenging physician authority were lesslikely to view the experience positively, but this still only amounted to a thirdof those who viewed matters in this light.In sum, there is little to support the notion that physicians, especiallyyounger ones, discourage patients from bringing healthcare information fromthe Internet to the attention of their physicians. Despite the fact that there isapparently a great deal of health information seeking on the part of patients,large proportions of patients do not seem to bring such material to the attentionof their physicians. One possible explanation for this conclusion is thatpatients are investing their new-found knowledge in non-traditional, or at leastnon-physician, relationships, such as the support groups noted above or familyand friends.Physician Interaction with Patients via E-mailOne expectation was that patients would be able to have ready contact withphysicians via the Internet. Similar expectations accompanied the adoption ofan earlier technology, the telephone (Spielberg, 1998). For the same reasons,in neither the case of the telephone nor the Internet have these technologies ledto substantially more open access to the physician. In various e-mail surveysof physicians, the majority noted a low response rate from their subjects.Schmidt et al. (2003) reported a 38 percent response rate when a fictitiouspatient e-mailed members of the Association of Reflexologists. In a similar