I think of myself as a public service researcher. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the California HealthCare Foundation provide the funds for the work I do and, in turn, I do everything I can to inject the findings into the public conversation: publish reports and data sets online, for free; talk to reporters and bloggers […]
public Q&A
How many people use “ask a doctor” sites?
Here’s a question I received that I thought was worth a public answer: How many people go online to seek a doctor’s opinion about something, such as on an “ask a doctor” site? Pew Research has not asked a survey question that specifically measures that activity, but we have something pretty close, based on our […]
Is there hope for SMS health alerts?
Richard Fury, MD, of Kaiser Permanente emailed me recently, asking: “Is there any hope for SMS health alerts when patients are due for preventive care? As you know, patients want this, we want to provide this, but without symptomatic incentives adoption is poor. Thoughts?” I think there is hope for SMS health alerts targeting people […]
For some people, it’s still 1994
Here’s a question which inspired me today, received via email from Christie Silbajoris, director of NC Health Info: My library is rethinking its provision of services to the public. We’ve got a history of going beyond what the average academic health sciences library provides in this area but in this age of budget cuts (and […]
The Pew Internet/Health FAQ
A big part of my job, and one I love, is answering questions, mostly from reporters. Sometimes I have just the data or insight someone needs, often I recommend someone else. Here is a sample of frequently-asked questions and my current answers. Please add your questions and answers in the comments: What are you curious […]
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