---
title: "The Rise of the e-Patient: Understanding Social Networks and Online Health Information-Seeking"
description: "Lee Rainie discusses e-patients and their online behavior"
date: "2011-05-05"
authors:
  - name: "Lee Rainie"
    job_title: "Former Director, Internet and Technology Research"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/lee-rainie/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/05/05/the-rise-of-the-e-patient-understanding-social-networks-and-online-health-information-seeking/"
categories:
  - "Health Care"
  - "Health Policy"
  - "Healthcare Online"
  - "Medicine & Health"
  - "Online Search"
  - "Social Media"
---

# The Rise of the e-Patient: Understanding Social Networks and Online Health Information-Seeking

Keeping track of where and how American adults are getting their health information is a critical first step in knowing how to reach them with usable and understandable information. Lee Rainie's speech at [The Institute for Healthcare Advancement](http://www.iha4health.org/default.aspx?MenuItemID=190&MenuGroup=_Home&&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1) will cover the Project's latest research, including new data on online health information-seeking, mobile devices in healthcare, and digital patient communities in the age of social networks.

http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/the-rise-of-the-epatient-understanding-social-networks-and-online-health-informationseeking