Hospital websites today are often dynamic and slick looking with sliding images of good-looking healthcare providers, photos and videos of the latest diagnostic and surgical equipment, and plenty of platitudinal language about being a state-of-the-art and leading edge healthcare provider.

While this promotional language is deemed to be important in ‘selling’ hospital benefits to the community; what consumers really need is a relevant information portal that can be a true resource when making healthcare decisions for their family.  Hospitals can benefit from having a clear path to important information regarding safety and quality as well as hospital departments and service offerings.  Consumers also need to be able to navigate the site quickly and easily and connect immediately with hospital departments and physicians.

In her August, 2013 article, It’s Judgment Day for Hospital Websites, HealthLeaders Media writer, Cheryl Clark speaks directly to this issue in detail and highlights an initiative that is giving hospitals a reason to build and maintain more transparent and user friendly web sites.  In 2012, seven hospital transparency website awards were presented through a partnership of The Leapfrog Group and URAC.  The criteria for winning focused around five key areas including transparency, design, credibility, literacy and connectivity.  Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 awards.

A hospital’s website should be a clear gateway to the content a consumer needs to make informed healthcare decisions.  In what has become a crowded and competitive healthcare market, this level of transparency a step in the right direction for marketers and a chance for hospitals to truly demonstrate the important role they play in the lives of the patients they serve.