Hospitals and health systems are beginning to build a foundation of digital and mobile healthcare features that enable patients to manage their health, wellness and healthcare business affairs online.
But consumers and patients are demanding more self-service internet tools from hospitals to manage healthcare—and hospitals are being hard pressed to keep up, according to research and analysis from Internet Health Management’s Digital Hospital 500, a first-ever ranking of the most digitally advanced U.S. hospitals.
There are about three dozen features and functions that hospitals have incorporated into their digital and mobile healthcare programs. They range from enabling patients to access electronic health information, find doctors and pay bills to more sophisticated tools for rating and reviewing providers online or accessing electronic physician notes about them.
All hospitals ranked in the Digital Hospital 500 offer their consumers and patients at least some digital connectivity, most typically through an information portal that lets patients view at least a part of their medical record, and e-mail their doctor or another clinician. For example, 491 institutions (98.2%) let patients view and download bills online, while 488 hospitals (97.6%) offer a digital tool for finding a physician and 483 (96.6%) for booking an appointment online, according to the Digital Hospital 500.
More than three-fourths of all Digital 500 Hospitals—382 or 76.3%—have an electronic records system in place that can serve as the foundation to build or expand a portfolio of digital and mobile health tools. But there remains a wide disparity in terms of the online features offered by Digital Hospital 500 institutions.
For the Top 100 hospitals, the median is 21 features, but that number steadily drops with each quintile in the ranking: 101-200 (18), 201-300 (17), 301- 400 (15) and 401-500 (12), according to the Digital Hospital 500.
Internet Health Management spent six months researching and collecting data for the Digital Hospital 500. Internet Health Management ranked each Digital Hospital 500 institution on four main criteria: the total number of self-service digital healthcare features and functions each hospital offers patients and consumers, monthly website traffic, social media channels and number of followers, and each hospital’s mobile capability, including the percent of website traffic from a mobile device, apps and responsive design.
Each hospital received an average score on a scale of 1-5 for each category. Those averages were then used to compile a final score with the available number of features and functions accounting for one-half of each hospital’s final score.
Data and analysis of The Digital Hospital 500 is available in two formats—a 100-page downloadable report for $299 containing detailed analysis on the data, trends and business strategies the leading hospitals ranked in The Digital Hospital 500 are using to advance digital and mobile healthcare. A subscription database available for $995 gives subscribers full access to all data on Digital Hospital 500 hospitals.
That information in the database encompasses 75 metrics, including each Digital Hospital 500 institution’s digital healthcare features and functions; web traffic (including breakout for desktop vs. mobile); more mobile health metrics; social media metrics for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest; the name of the institution’s electronic health records system provider (if available) and a short profile.
The Digital Hospital 500 database also contains the names and titles of more than 1,500 executives overseeing all—or a significant portion—of their hospital’s digital and mobile healthcare program.
The Digital Hospital 500 is the latest in a series of executive and research reports from Internet Health Management.
“Consumer-driven web healthcare isn’t a concept—it’s a reality, and it’s rapidly evolving,” says Molly Love, president and CEO of Vertical Web Media, publisher of Digital Commerce 360 and Internet Health Management. “The Digital Hospital 500 reaffirms our mission to keep healthcare leaders and solutions providers fully informed with timely research, data and analysis on the trends changing how healthcare is delivered and managed.”