We strongly believe that only digital health can bring healthcare into the 21st century and make patients the point-of-care. One of the most visible consequences of digital health is the change in the relationship between patients and doctors. The latter are not the exclusive source of medical information anymore: search engines, online journals, and glossaries, patient support groups on social media, apps, and even chatbots are widely available if someone has a question about health-related issues.And statistics show that people are more and more inclined to use the powers of these tools for self-education to take care of their own or their loved ones health. 80 percent of Internet users in the US, or about 93 million Americans, have searched for a health-related topic online, according to a study released in July 2018 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Most frequently people went online to look up information about a specific disease or medical problem (63 percent) or particular medical treatment or procedure (47 percent). They were also interested in diet, nutrition, and vitamins (44 percent) and exercise or fitness information (36 percent).A Eurobarometer survey found already back in 2014 that six out of ten Europeans go online when looking for health information and 90 percent said that the Internet helped them to improve their knowledge about health-related topics. A study in Australia published in 2014 revealed that about two-thirds of patients who had accessed the internet in the previous month, about 30% sought health information online, and one-in-six obtained information related to a problem managed by the GP at that visit.

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