From clicks to care: Exploring the digital strategies of Italian health authorities in communicating ‘General Practitioner Selection’ service

The prioritization of digitalization is crucial to the agendas of nations worldwide. While substantial funds have been allocated to foster it, there remains a scarcity of tools dedicated to systematically monitoring the performance of the digital transformation. This work describes the level of digitalization and information of a fundamental primary care service: the “General Practitioner (GP) selection”. The analysis was conducted by consulting websites of Italian Local Health Authorities (LHAs). First, we explored the digitalization levels of 105 websites through the Primary Care Digital Information (PCDI) composite index. It comprises four dimensions: informativeness, accessibility, inclusiveness, and adaptability, scoring on a five-point scale (low-high digitalization). Second, we conducted a readability analysis, employing three validated measures. We found an average level of digitalization and information, although dimensions perform differently. The best-performing dimension was adaptability, while the worst was inclusiveness. Half of the LHAs provided several digital alternatives to GP selection, while the remaining provided limited or no options. Regarding readability, just 29% of the LHA's websites were found easy to read. Overall, our findings depict that Italian LHAs have different approaches. This study highlights that, despite best practices, several areas require monitoring and intervention. Moreover, some barriers characterize Italian health communication strategies, notably the variability of information across and within regions and on average low website readability.