Privacy Concerns Hinder Health Plan Web Site Growth

Health plan Web sites are being pushed to be efficient transactors — sites that can manage administrative healthcare transactions and offer the tools needed in a growing consumer-driven health marketplace. But for health plan sites to be successful in this space, consumers must feel confident that their privacy is being protected. Forrester found that many insured consumers don't: Privacy concerns are widespread, and these concerns impede health plan member site adoption. Of particular concern to eBusiness executives, consumers with high-deductible plans — plans that demand the highest level of involvement from the consumer — are the least trusting of health plans' privacy protection measures. eBusiness executives have long made privacy a top priority, but it hasn't been enough: To grow health plan Web site usage, they must overcome issues of consumer trust and assure those consumers that the plan will protect their personal information.