Hospital web sites: Promise and progress

Abstract

The Internet provides a wide range of technologies that enable hospitals to communicate with their patients, physicians and other important groups. We discuss the promise of many widely used web site features for hospitals. Using a structured audit of 111 hospital web sites, we evaluate the progress being made. We find that most hospitals have mastered the basic “electronic brochure” capabilities. However, less than half of the sites enable visitors to easily search for pertinent information. The progress towards using web sites for appointment scheduling or providing discussion forums about health care is likewise confined to a small group of hospitals.