New survey reveals customers want more assurance of the reliability of health care Web sites



The survey revealed that the majority of consumers questions, around 70%, believe that the information on health Web sites is excellent or very good in general terms. However, the report also highlighted that there are significant differences in the extent to which consumers are satisfied with different types of Web sites.

As an example, only 16% of consumers reported a high level of trust in health insurance Web sites, and a 24% reported a low level of trust. In comparison, hospital Web sites faired a little better in the survey with 34% of consumers reporting high trust levels and 5% low level.

"We found that there is a significant trust gap among consumers, and they clearly want some oversight and assurances of reliability, privacy and trust of health Web sites," said Garry Carneal, President and CEO of URAC.

For 76% of respondents to the survey, a quality "seal of approval" was extremely or very important for health Web sites. "But that does not necessarily point to the need for government regulation," said Carneal.

In response, only 21% of respondents said they would prefer the federal government take responsibility for assuring the quality of health Web sites. The report revealed that 74% of consumers placed the most trust in an independent non-profit organization, and only 5% said they trust the Web site sponsors themselves to perform this overnight function.

Most consumers who plan to access health Web sites this year believe that the evaluation of the timeliness and quality of health content is extremely or very important before a site should receive a seal of approval. Security and privacy also are critical factors to evaluate before a seal should be given, according to the report.

"According to the survey, an effective accreditation process that assesses privacy, timeliness and reliability of information should go a long way to closing the trust gap among users of health Web sites," Carneal said.