US Medical Information Websites Benchmarking: How Is the Industry Fairing in Usability?

Objectives: This study of 23 US-based biopharmaceutical medical information (MI) websites was conducted to assess usability and identify best practices and areas of potential improvement. Methods: In this systematic review, websites were evaluated from June 22-November 1, 2016, and awarded points based on content, functionality, and navigation (maximum score of 42). Low-, mid-, and high-range usability scores were <= 13, 14-27, >= 28, respectively. Results: Mean scores were 7 of 17, 4 of 10, and only 5 of 15 criteria for content, functionality, and navigation. The mean usability score across all websites was 15 of 42 criteria. Larger companies generally had a higher mean usability score. A minor trend was also observed with regard to usability score and industry size (r(2) = 0.3). Only 2 websites scored high, whereas 13 scored in the mid- and 8 in the lower range of usability. Overall, websites scored low when pertaining to presence of novel content type, search engine optimization, presence of social media, and MI services offered. Overall site architecture, presence of self-certification, and mobile compatibility scored fairly well across the industry. Conclusion: The majority of websites scored in the low to midrange, which suggests an industry-wide opportunity for improvement. In order to meet the evolving needs of health care professionals, MI websites need to be optimized for content, navigation, and functionality. Ensuring MI websites are discoverable through search engines and improving the level of MI services offered was also deemed to be important features to incorporate into a given MI website optimization strategy.