barriers to patient adoption of portal

by Prof. Morton Crist 6 min read

What Are the Top Barriers to Patient Portal Adoption, Use?

21 hours ago May 15, 2018 · Patient health literacy is an integral key to improving patient portal adoption. Just as patients want to see the features they value in way that is navigable, they also want to understand that information. If a patient has low health literacy, they are unlikely to find patient portal data useful. >> Go To The Portal


Conclusions: The most common barriers to patient portal adoption are preference for in-person communication, not having a need for the patient portal, and feeling uncomfortable with computers, which are barriers that are modifiable and can be intervened upon.

What Are the Top Barriers to Patient Portal Adoption, Use?
  • Patients see limited use for patient portal.
  • The interface is not usable.
  • Patients have low health literacy.
  • Providers do not promote patient portals.
May 15, 2018

Full Answer

What is the most common barrier to patient portal access?

May 15, 2018 · Patient health literacy is an integral key to improving patient portal adoption. Just as patients want to see the features they value in way that is navigable, they also want to understand that information. If a patient has low health literacy, they are unlikely to find patient portal data useful.

Why don’t more patients use patient portals?

May 11, 2018 · Only barriers were anticipated for patients (common to all stakeholder groups), especially related to patients’ characteristics and patient portal use. These barriers included lack of eHealth literacy. This can be due to the diversity of the patient population because it will include immigrants, older patients, and people with limited literacy skills.

What are the barriers to eHealth portal implementation?

Nov 01, 2020 · The dearth of national studies on disparities in patient access and use of PPs exclude patients, an important stakeholder in PPs adoption and impact. 24 Furthermore, inequitable access to and use of PPs raise concerns for their potential to exacerbate health disparities. 2 For example, Lin et al 25 showed that of 95% of patients who had access to their …

What are the barriers and facilitators for portal use?

The most common barriers to patient portal adoption are preference for in-person communication, not having a need for the patient portal, and feeling uncomfortable with computers, which are barriers that are modifiable and can be intervened upon.

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Why do patients not use patient portals?

The researchers found no demographic differences among nonusers who said that a technology hurdle, lack of internet access or no online medical record was the reason why they did not make use of a patient portal.May 14, 2019

What are the disadvantages of patient portals?

Even though they should improve communication, there are also disadvantages to patient portals....Table of ContentsGetting Patients to Opt-In.Security Concerns.User Confusion.Alienation and Health Disparities.Extra Work for the Provider.Conclusion.Nov 11, 2021

What is a common barrier to health information technology adoption?

With the repeated calls for the use of technology in healthcare, there are, nevertheless, barriers to its adoption. There are six primary barriers to the adoption of technology identified by prior research: cost, legality, time, fear, usefulness, and complexity.Oct 25, 2006

What are some barriers for clients related to the use of technology to promote personal health?

Barriers for Health IT Implementation. The four most common barriers for health IT implementation among consumers are privacy and security concerns, health literacy, unawareness, and usability.Aug 31, 2013

What are the pros and cons of patient portals?

What are the Top Pros and Cons of Adopting Patient Portals?Pro: Better communication with chronically ill patients.Con: Healthcare data security concerns.Pro: More complete and accurate patient information.Con: Difficult patient buy-in.Pro: Increased patient ownership of their own care.Feb 17, 2016

What are challenges for patients that do not have access to all of the PHRs?

Between underutilization of technology, lack of patient education, and inadequate health IT interoperability, patients and providers are struggling to ensure robust patient health data access.Underutilized patient portals.Ambiguous security protocols.Limited health data interoperability.Aug 11, 2016

What are some of the barriers to electronic health information implementation?

The most significant barriers were lack of national information standards and code sets (62 percent), lack of available funding (59 percent), concern about physician (51 percent), and lack of interoperability (50 percent) (8).

What are some of the barriers that have to be overcome in order for health information technologies hit to deliver value to providers patients and society?

Situational barriers included time and financial pressures, unproven return on investment, insufficient access to the internet or to computer technology in the office setting, the prohibitive cost of information technology for small practices, and software not being supportive of pediatric practice needs.

What was a primary barrier to the adoption and implementation of the electronic health record EHR )?

The high up-front financial costs of implementing EMRs are a primary barrier to their adoption. This barrier is compounded by uncertainty over the size of any financial benefits that may accrue over time (6).

What are the barriers to healthcare technology?

These barriers include lack of infrastructure, cost, technical sophistications, lack of skilled human resources and lack of e- readiness of medical professionals.

What are the barriers to change in healthcare?

Overcoming Unseen BarriersBarriers to Healthcare Change and Potential SolutionsFactors Inhibiting ChangePotential SolutionsWaning Commitment or Flavor-of-the-Month SyndromeImplement a solid communication plan that reaches all levels of the organization, and build momentum through early, visible wins.5 more rows

What barriers may exist to healthcare professionals being able to be consumers of current research?

“The lack of sufficient time for reading the studies,” “the lack of sufficient time to implement the new ideas,” “the lack of adequate facilities to implement the ideas,” “nurses' little interest in conducting studies,” and “the lack of authority to change the methods and patterns of care” with, respectively, 85%, 84.6 ...Jun 23, 2016

Abstract

Background: Patient access to their medical records through patient portals (PPs) facilitates information exchange and provision of quality health care. Understanding factors that characterize patients with limited access to and use of PPs is needed.

Introduction

Patient engagement is a top priority for US health care systems. 1 The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is a system-level strategy to involve patients in their health care and increase their ability to make informed decisions.

Methods

Data were from the 2017−2018 Health Information National Trends Survey 5, cycles 1 (H5C1) and 2 (H5C2). H5C1 and H5C2 were nationally representative, self-administered, mail surveys of US adults ≥ 18 years that evaluated public perceptions and use of PPs.

Measures

Access to PPs was assessed with, “Do any of your doctors/health care providers maintain your medical records in a computerized system?” and “Have you ever been offered online access to your medical records by your health care provider?” [1 = yes, 0 = no/do not know].

Analyses

Weighted missing percentage for demographic characteristics was highest for income (9.7%) and race/ethnicity (8%). Missingness on all other variables, including outcome variables, was < 4%. Little’s test showed that missingness on variables collected at both waves was not completely at random (χ 2 = 16505.72; df = 14235; P < .001).

Associations between Patient Characteristics and PPs Access and Use

Roughly 3 quarters of participants (76.9%) reported their provider maintained electronic medical records but only 47.2% reported being offered access to them, 39.2% reported their provider encouraged their use, 27.2% were confident electronic medical records were safe, and 29.3% and 9.3% reported accessing their own or their families’ medical records in the past year..

Associations between Patient Characteristics and Use of PP Functionalities

Knowledge of PP functions varied, with laboratory test results (91.5%) being the most known function and clinical notes (50.6%) being the least ( Figure 1 ). Use of PP functions varied, with viewing test results (84.3%) being the most used function and requesting corrections (7.1%) being the least.

Can a physician be reimbursed for using a portal?

There's no way around it: Other than receiving meaningful use incentive payments (and avoiding penalties), physicians typically won't get directly reimbursed for using a portal. In fact, some physicians fear that successfully answering patient questions through secure messaging might create additional appointment capacity that the practice would need to fill to avoid declining revenue.

Can cybercriminals access health records?

Given the frequent news stories of cyber-criminals breaking into the computer networks of retail chains, government databases, and even health care organizations, it's no wonder that some patients are less than willing to access their health records or discuss sensitive matters online.

Why don't older adults use portals?

In a 2018 national survey, older adults (50-80 years) commonly cited the following reasons for not setting up a patient portal: 1 Did not like communicating about their health by computer (40%) 2 Did not have a need for a portal (38%) 3 Did not know they needed to set something up (33%) 4 Had not gotten around to setting up a portal (29%) 5 Did not feel comfortable with technology (26%)

What is a patient portal?

Patient portals often are designed in concert with other health care system functions such as scheduling appointments and communicating securely with providers . According to Walker, Sieck, Menser and colleagues , offering a variety of functions is a central component of patient engagement, particularly for patients attempting to self-manage chronic conditions.

Who is Colene Byrne?

Presently she works as a senior analyst and Clinical lead at RTI International in the Quality Measurement and Health Policy Program. She has expertise in patient/resident assessment-based and electronic health record (EHR)-based quality measures. She recently led the development of a measure of the transfer of health information for 4 post acute care settings, through a multi-year measure development process. The measure concept is the transfer of a medication list, and will be implemented in 2020. Through this work, and as a high user of her patient portal, Colene developed a keen interest in the adoption and use of patient-facing tools such as patient portals.

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