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Abstract Details

Analyzing the Online Presence of Neurologists in the United States
Practice, Policy, and Ethics
S22 - Practice, Policy, and Ethics: Improving Patient Care and the Rise of Telemedicine (3:54 PM-4:06 PM)
003

Our study aims to determine the online presence of neurologists in the United States. 
In our age of technological advancement, patients utilize and refer to online resources when trying to make informed decisions about their healthcare providers. This becomes increasingly important in specialties such as neurology that have a shortage of physicians and where a specialist is difficult to find. However, websites are not routinely updated nor regulated, but nonetheless influence where patients decide to seek medical care. There is a lack of research regarding the online presence of neurologists, and subsequently where information regarding their practice is available for patients to access. Therefore, our study aims to determine the online presence of neurologists in the United States. 
The Physicians Compare National Database File from the Center for Medicare Services was used to identify a sample of neurologists in the United States. Then, a Google Custom Search Engine was created to parse the first ten search results for each physician using a set of search parameters. A coded script analyzed the URL contents of each link and placed the search results into one of the following categories: health or hospital system, third-party, social media, academic journal, or other.
A total of 13,918 neurologists were included for analysis. Of the 139,180 search results obtained, 20.79% were from hospital or health systems, 71.93% were from uncontrolled third-party websites, 5.15% were from social media sites, 0.4% were from academic journals and 1.73% were from other online sources.

The online presence of neurologists is predominantly controlled by third-party websites, many of which are inaccessible to the very physicians they represent.  As the field of neurology continues to grow, a great opportunity exists for physicians to expand their digital presence to more accurately reflect their practice and increase their patient base. 
Authors/Disclosures
Sama Elrahi, MD (UCLA)
PRESENTER 		Ms. Elrahi has nothing to disclose.
Kyra Curtis, MD (University of Rochester Neurology Department) Ms. Curtis has nothing to disclose.
No disclosure on file
Prashant K. Rai, MD (University of Texas Medical Branch Hospital) Dr. Rai has nothing to disclose.