Introduction 1 - Executive Summary 2 - Methodology 3 - Profile of Survey Respondents 4 - IT Priorities 5 - IT Barriers 6 - IT Applications 7 - IT Security 8 - Technology Adoption 9 - Web Site/Intranet Use 10 - IT Outsourcing/Satisfaction w/ Vendor Performance 11 - IT Budget and Staff 12 - Survey Sponsors 13 - How to Cite This Study 14 - For More Information

Web Site/Intranet Use

Web site functionality for patients, including scheduling, health assessment tools and providing consumer health information is expected to increase in the next two years. The use of Intranets is also projected to increase in the next two years; staff communication is the most frequent use of Intranets.

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 (95 percent). Employee recruitment and use of online physician and provider directories round out the top three, offered by 94 and 81 percent of respondents, respectively. Seventy percent of respondents also say their organizations provide consumers with health information on their Web sites.

Respondents continue to identify that they are pursuing new avenues of patient-centered functionality for their Web sites. Patient scheduling (76 percent), patient health assessment tools (62 percent), and providing consumer health information (55 percent) are the top three areas in which organizations plan to use their Web site in the next two years. Fifty-five percent of respondents also identified that they would like to provide additional functionality in the area of employee recruitment.

Eighty-three percent of respondents who report that they currently do not offer patients secure and authenticated online access to their medical records anticipate that they will do so in the future. Other areas with similarly high increases include:

• Patient scheduling—74 percent
• Patient health assessment tools—58 percent
• Provide consumer health information—47 percent

Use of Intranets in healthcare organizations continues to increase. Nearly 96 percent of respondents indicated that their organization has an Intranet, compared to 94 percent in 2004 and 91 percent in 2003. For the second year in a row, staff communication was most frequently identified as a function of the Intranet; 93 percent of respondents report that this functionality is offered at their facility. Rounding out the top three are posting policies and procedures (88 percent) and the availability of resource tools (79 percent).

Future use of Intranets is projected to reach near market saturation. Presently, 96 percent of healthcare IT executives report that they use an Intranet; 99 percent report they will use an Intranet in two years. The top projected uses of the Intranet will be posting policies and procedures (67 percent), staff communication (64 percent) and access to resource tools (59 percent).

Figure 18. Current Web Site Functions

Figure 19. Additional Web Site Functions

Figure 20. Intranet Functions