Evaluation of Greek Public Hospital Websites

Hospital web sites need to operate as effective web resources of information and interactive communication mediums to address the multifaceted requirements of their main stakeholders, (i.e. patients, healthy citizens, healthcare professionals and local communities). In case of public hospitals, web sites should also be considered as a mean to provide governmental electronic services. The main objective of this study is to provide an evaluation framework for hospital web sites. The proposed framework focuses on three main criteria: information, communication and electronic services. A total of 53 Greek hospital web sites within the Public Sector were evaluated based on a 67-item scale. The main findings of the study were the following: (a) the majority of the web sites in the analysis failed to support necessary web-based transactions between the institutions and their stakeholders (b) web sites are lacking important features regarding provision of information and communication practices. Improvements on interaction and information quality are necessary in order for the institutions to provide a viable and useful online environment for patients and citizens.