A new survey finds that doctors’ websites are woefully lacking when it comes to serving patients.
No surprises there – after all, the most commonly used technology in a doctor’s office is still the fax machine.
Here are the details of the survey conducted by medical marketing firm Vanguard Communications which analyzed 300 doctors with the highest patient satisfaction ratings in Boston, Denver and Portland. The specialists analyzed were OB/GYNs, urologists and orthopedic surgeons.
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- 69 percent of these physicians have websites but only 33 percent of them have anything more than biographical and practice information on it.
- Only 99 in fact have information centered around patients such as medical conditions and treatment options
- It gets worse with only 4 percent – 12 doctors – made at least one blog posting in the past 12 months on their websites to inform patients on trends and research.
“Doctors in these cities are still using their websites primarily as electronic brochures about their practices rather than as online health resources,” said Ron Harman King, Vanguard CEO, in a news release.
The results are all the more revealing given a recent Pew Internet survey that shows that patients continue to search for health information online. So doctors are missing a real opportunity to bridge the chasm they currently have with with patients by keeping website information limited to their bios.
“In 14 years of helping doctors find new patients, our foremost conclusion is that patients look for health care information first and health care providers second,” King said in the statement. “Any doctor offering online health education engenders public trust, attracts a better informed patient and grows his practice.”
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