Healthcare CIO: Final Report

Nearly all survey respondents reported that their organization has a Web site. Marketing/promotion of the organization continues to be the function for which Web sites are most frequently used (96 percent). Employee recruitment and use of online physician and provider directories round out the top three, offered by 90 and 77 percent of respondents, respectively. Some 72 percent of respondents also say their organizations are providing consumer health information on their Web sites.

In 2003, respondents reported that consumers should benefit from additional Web site functionality in the next two years; this appears to continue to be the trend. Patient scheduling (71 percent), patient health assessment tools (50 percent), giving patients secure on-line access to medical records (47 percent) and providing consumer health information (41 percent) are the top four areas in which organizations plan to use their Web site in the next two years.

Sixty-five percent of respondents who report that they currently do not offer patient scheduling on their Web site anticipate that they will do so in the future. Other areas with similarly high increases include:

• Provision of consumer health information—59 percent
• Patient health assessment tools—51 percent
• Online medical records—41 percent

Use of Intranets has increased marginally in the past two years. Nearly 94 percent of respondents indicated their organization has an Intranet, compared to 91 percent in 2003. Staff communications, a category newly added to the 2004 survey, was the function that respondents most frequently reported (91 percent). Rounding out the top three are last year's top choice—posting policies and procedures (87 percent)—and the availability of resource tools (72 percent).