As the U.S. healthcare debate continues, many continue to question whether the federal government has the ability to take on an effective increased role in the healthcare industry.  A recent study performed by ForeSee Results shows that government healthcare websites actually had higher consumer satisfaction ratings than those from the private sector.

The study surveyed 40,000 visitors to healthcare websites and asked them to rate specific aspects of the site (navigation, site performance, etc).  The results were tallied on a hundred-point scale and government healthcare websites scored a 79.  It was the highest score among all groups measured.  Insurance websites finished last with a score of 64.

The study was performed using American Consumer Satisfaction Index methodology, which has been shown to predict consumer spending, GDP, and stock prices.  Measuring consumer satisfaction has been proven to lead to increase consumer loyalty, recommendations, and the likelihood of return. 

Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee Results, offered several explanations for these results in a recent interview with OhMyGov.

What aspects of government healthcare websites do think made outperform private insurance websites?

Honestly, I think the biggest factor was that a lot of the government sites in our benchmark have been working on measuring and improving customer satisfaction for almost a decade. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and online healthcare information is one area where the government has been consistently ahead of the private sector in part just because they’ve been paying attention to it for so long.

Another reason for some of the success is the government healthcare websites have a built in credibility factor that when it comes to health related information. That results in great credibility of the information and a higher level of trust that visitors will have in the information.  The key is that they take advantage of that credibility and present the information in a clear and informative way – and make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for. 

Were there particular government websites that outperformed other government websites?

If you look at the 25 health-related websites included in the ACSI E-Gov Index, you can see that half of them score 80 and higher, generally considered the threshold for excellence in the ACSI. That’s remarkable. Roughly 5-6% of e-retail sites score 80 and up, just to give you a point of comparison. Even those on this list with scores that seem on the lower side have made huge improvements. DisabilityInfo.gov increased 5 points in just three months and 7 points since last year, DOD’s Tricare was up 9 points, and the DOD’s main military health system was up 11 points. So all of these sites are working so hard and really listening to their online users.

What exactly is the American Consumer Satisfaction Index?

It’s a quarterly index that reports on customer satisfaction with more than 200 companies in more than 40 industries. More than 100 federal government agencies have used the ACSI to measure citizen satisfaction with more than 200 services and programs and hundreds of federal websites. What’s unique about the ACSI methodology is that it helps government websites understand 1) how they compare to one another 2) how they are improving or declining over time and 3) which specific elements of their website (navigation, search, content, etc) they need to improve if they want to increase online efficiency and effectiveness, which saves us all time and money.

What do you think government agencies, outside of healthcare, should take away from this study?

Measure, measure, measure. The government websites that are health-related were some of the first to adopt the ACSI methodology and use it to monitor and manage citizen satisfaction online. While a website like the IRS will never see satisfaction in the high 80’s because of the nature of their mission, ALL government websites can and do see great improvements when they really let citizen feedback guide development.  Not to repeat myself, ok, maybe to repeat myself – you cannot manage what you do not measure.  So, can you improve what you don’t measure?  Some would say yes.  I would say how would you know if you improved?

In the ongoing healthcare debate, many are questioning whether the government should have an increased role in the healthcare industry.  Do you think this study helps the government’s case?

The issues related to the healthcare debate are so huge and so broad, and they go way beyond online satisfaction. So, I think it’s a bit of a jump to say that because government sites do well online, they should have an increased role. What I think this study DOES prove is that regardless of legislation and policy debates, there is a huge opportunity to save money, increase efficiency and increase the knowledge of healthcare consumers without sacrificing quality of care by using the online channel, in both the private and public sector.

Copies of the study are available here.