Despite the increased popularity in social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter, only 5 percent use social networking sites to look for information about prescription drugs, and just 3 percent use social networking sites to communicate with their physician or health plan.Interest toward in-home monitoring devices has decreased, with all age groups showing decreased interest. While 64 percent of consumers expressed interest in an in-home monitoring device in 2009, significantly fewer (49 percent) express interest in 2010.  Slightly fewer respondents (33 percent) are concerned about the security and protection of online personal health records compared to 2009 (38 percent). Compared with last year (47 percent), fewer respondents (43 percent) say that their health care costs increased and more (46 percent) say that costs stayed the same compared to 2009 (42 percent).Fifteen percent of consumers say they used a retail clinic in the past 12 months.More than a third (34 percent) of consumers say they are likely to use a retail clinic if it cost 50 percent or less than a doctor's appointment compared to 30 percent of consumers who indicated they would do likewise in 2009nsumers are receptive to medical tourism, but only 7 percent say they sought health care services outside their local community in the last 12 monthsnfidence in prescription medications remains high and unchanged from 2009 survey results “ three in four are confident that the medications they take are effective.Sixty-seven percent of consumers indicate that they would choose a generic medicine over a brand name if given a choice, a slight decrease from 2009 (71 percent).Two in seven respondents asked their doctor to prescribe a generic therapy because of cost concerns.More consumers are seeking alternative or natural remedies before seeing a physician (17 percent in 2010 compared with 12 percent in 2009) and more consumers are supplementing their current regimes with alternative remedies (20 percent in 2010 compared with 16 percent in 2009). Fourteen percent said they delayed or forewent treatment recommended by a doctor or medical professional.

"Consumers are a powerful force in health care," concluded Keckley. "To discount their role, to understate their impact and to relegate them to passive participants is a mistake. Reinforcing old paradigms that assume consumers will 'go along' with the status quo is short-sighted. However, mapping innovations to close the value gap consumers see in the system is a strategic opportunity."

Methodology

A nationally representative sample of 4,008 U.S. consumers 18 years old and over was surveyed between December 28, 2009 and January 5, 2010, using a web-based questionnaire. The results were weighted to assure proper proportional representation to the nation's population, as reflected in the 2006 U.S. Census, with respect to age, gender, income, race/ethnicity and geography. The margin of error is +/- 1.6% at the .95 confidence level.

SOURCE Deloitte