'CYBERCHONDRIACS' SEEK HEALTH INFO
The number of people searching the Internet for health information has more than doubled since June 1998, Health Care News reported Thursday. Harris Interactive estimated 110 million adults were searching the Web for health information an average of three times a month. That average was skewed, however, by a small number of "cyberchondriacs" who searched frequently. Most people, the study showed, did online health-related searches once a month or less. The results were based on a telephone survey of 707 adults conducted in March. The percentage of persons searching for E-health data was more than twice the 54 million who did so in June and July of 1998. At that time, 27 percent of adults looking for health information searched online. By March of this year, the number had jumped to 53 percent.
BILL SHIELDS DATA-SHARING
A bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., would permit companies to share personal data on customers. The bill gives people on whom information is gathered, regardless of how it is obtained, the right to know what information is being collected, to whom it may be sent and what it may be used for. The bill would also allow individuals to direct companies not to share personal data, but the limit would apply only to companies, not "information-sharing partners" with the firm gathering the data. The legislation, a culmination of six hearings last year, would pre-empt state privacy laws and shield organizations setting up self-regulated privacy programs from penalties.
NEW E-TOOL FOR SICK HEARTS
The American Health Association has set up a Web site to help people with heart failure, chest pain or who have had a heart attack understand their treatment options. An estimated 12.6 million people alive today have a history of heart problems. Nearly half of those who have a heart attack will die. The free Web site uses a personalized tool to profile the patients by matching their results with published clinical study results and giving them information specific to their condition. The Heart Profiler is available at www.americanheart.org.
PEOPLE TO GET ID CHIPS
Eight people will become "scannable" Friday when they are injected with tiny computer chips. The chips, about the size of a rice grain, are aimed at helping families of Alzheimer's patients and others who have a complicated medical history, the Los Angeles Times reported. The chip, implanted in the upper back, is all but invisible unless activated by a scanner. The device, called the VeriChip, is manufactured by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Fla.
