Users' Preferred Interactive
E-health Tools on
U.S. Hospital Web Sites
Edgar Huang, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Informatics, Indiana University
535 W Michigan Street, IT471, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA
ehuang@iupui.edu, 317-278-4108
http://newsroom.informatics.iupui.edu/directory/ehuang
Chiu-chi Angela Chang, PhD
Associate Professor, John L. Grove College of Business, Shippensburg University
1871 Old Main Drive, Grove 215, Shippensburg, PA 17257-2299, USA
ccchan@ship.edu, 717-477-1691
http://www.ship.edu/Business/Faculty/Angela_Chang/
Poonam Khurana, MD, FAAP
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Indiana University
pkhurana@iupui.edu, 317-962-2275
Presented to the Association for Marketing & Health Care Research Annual Conference, Park City, Utah, February 29 – March 3, 2012
Accepted for publication in International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate, from the user’s perspective, what patient-oriented e-health interactive tools on hospital Web sites are considered useful. Two rounds of online surveys among 242 qualified participants from diversified backgrounds have revealed that the users highly appreciate core business tools, especially access to medical records and lab results, while discounting hospitals’ efforts to connect to social media. The data show that hospitals’ e-health implementation on their Web sites has greatly lagged behind the users’ needs for interacting with hospitals online. It is concluded that, while continuing to provide traditional functional tools, hospitals should expedite their development in providing core e-business tools and emerging functional tools in order to accomplish multiple objectives, including service, education, and marketing.
Keywords: healthcare new media, healthcare IT, e-health, hospital Web sites, interactivity.