Can information needs of benefit -eligible new and current employees of University of Missouri -Columbia for selecting a health plan be met by employer's benefits Web site and health plan administrator's member Web site

This study identified and described whether the information needs of benefit-eligible new and current employees of the University of Missouri-Columbia for making a health plan decision could be met by the information provided on employer's benefits web site and on health plan administrator's member web site using the methods of focus groups and web site evaluations. The focus group phase investigated (1) information needs, (2) information sources, (3) health plan decisions, (4) internet use, and (5) e-health technology capabilities. The web site evaluations phase evaluated: (1) information content, (2) information structure, (3) information presentation, and (4) e-health technology adaptation.;The results of focus group interviews (including individual interviews) implicated: employee information needs were multifaceted with the most wanted information being on providers and prescription drugs; employees used various information sources---word-of-mouth and/or the internet; the most frequently used health plan decision tradeoff factors were quality and cost; the employer's benefits web site was used more than the health plan administrator's member web site; employees expressed positive attitudes towards e-health technology capabilities.;The results of web site evaluations implicated: the information content of the employer's benefits web site and the health plan administrator's member web site could meet employee information needs to some extent; while the information structure on the employer's benefit web site was analogous to a file cabinet, file drawers, and file folders with limited navigation, the health plan administrator's member web site had better logical organization and navigation; whereas the information presentation on the employer's benefits web site was often in PDF format, the health plan administrator's member web site was more advanced but not plan-specific; while there was virtually no e-health technology adaptations on the employer's benefits web site, there were quite a few on the health plan administrator's member web site.;In conclusion, the information needs of new and current benefit-eligible employees of the University of Missouri-Columbia for selecting a health plan could be partially met by employer's benefits web site and health plan administrator's member web site.