The common perception is that e-mailing your physician and becoming better informed via reading Internet information leads to improved health outcomes.

A recent study suggests otherwise, showing that increased consumerism leads to lower perceived quality:

Consumerist patients place additional demands on their doctors’ time, thus imposing a negative externality on other patients . . . Data from a large national survey of physicians shows that high levels of consumerism are associated with lower perceived quality.

In other words, the time spent to answer questions garnered from the Internet leads to less time for other patients.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. Doctors are only paid for patients seen in the office. Re-aligning incentives to include spending time with the patient, or communicating via e-mail, would benefit everybody involved.