Your Practice Online is now live! This service, which provides a Web site to physicians at no cost, is now available to all APA members. More than 7,000 medical practices—representing over 20,000 physicians, including many APA members—have already signed up to build Web sites with Your Practice Online.

Popular Web addresses are going fast, so members are encouraged to reserve the most desirable URL for their practices as soon as possible. Because Web addresses are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, participating members may not be able to get their first choice if they wait too long.

"A Web site presents tremendous opportunity for our members, their practices, and their patients," said APA Medical Director Steven Mirin, M.D., "and the name of your site is a significant part of the equation."

A "good" Web address is one that is easy to remember, which will result in a site that is highly utilized by patients, referring physicians, and others.

"An easy-to-remember URL will also help increase visibility for a physician’s practice and help market his or her new site," said Bob Purcell, Medem’s vice president of marketing.

Medem, the e-health network founded last year by APA and six other leading medical societies, is now a reality for all member physicians. They can harness the power of the Internet by easily creating an online presence with this new member benefit.

In addition to APA, Medem’s founding members are the American Academy of Ophthalmology; American Academy of Pediatrics; American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Two societies that joined Medem after its founding are the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

According to a recent Cyber Dialogue study, 62 percent of consumers seeking health care information online are interested in getting it from their own doctors. Medem will enable members of the participating societies to be the online voice of medicine for their patients.

APA members who wish to create their own Web site using Your Practice Online can create content for their sites by selecting articles from an extensive online library of medical and health care content from the nation’s leading medical societies, including APA. They also can customize their sites by posting their own documents, articles, instructions, bro-chures, and so on.

"This service enables any physician Web site to rival the largest e-health portal because medical society content can be added and then personalized with the physician’s knowledge of their patient base," said Medem CEO Edward Fotsch, M.D.