4 hours ago · Conclusions: Although racial/ethnic minority enrollees were less likely to access the online patient portal overall, a greater proportion of black and Hispanic users accessed the patient portal with mobile devices than did non-Hispanic white users. The rapid spread of mobile devices among racial/ethnic minorities may help reduce variation in online patient portal use. >> Go To The Portal
Portal enrollment and use are generally lower among racial/ethnic minority patient populations. 7,10,12,15,16 Specifically, black, Hispanic, and Asian patients have been found to have lower enrollment and use of patient portals than non-Hispanic white patients, even after adjusting for internet access and use. 7,9,10,12,15-17 However, new technologies, such as smartphones and other mobile devices, may help attenuate differences in patient portal use among racial/ethnic minority patients.
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★ About one in five patient portal users (22%) accessed their health information using both a smartphone health app and a computer in 2020. ★ Patient portal users most commonly accessed their health information through a computer (83%) – six in 10 portal users accessed their health information using only this method.
Individuals who access their portal at least once in the past year are referred to as “patient portal users”. Patient portal users who access their health information using multiple methods access their portal more frequently than those who use only one method.
About 6 in 10 individuals nationwide were offered access to their patient portal by a health care provider or insurer, and nearly 4 in 10 individuals (38 percent) reported that they accessed their portal at least once in 2020.
The findings, published in the journal Health Affairs, indicate a lack of physician, health system and insurer engagement in promoting portal use—nearly 40% of patients in the study reported not being offered it. The AMA is committed to making technology an asset in the delivery of health care, not a burden.
There are two main types of patient portals: a standalone system and an integrated service. Integrated patient portal software functionality usually comes as a part of an EMR system, an EHR system or practice management software. But at their most basic, they're simply web-based tools.
A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure username and password, patients can view health information such as: Recent doctor visits. Discharge summaries.
Top 10 Patient Portal Software By EMRSystemsEpic EHR Software's MyChart.athenahealth EMR Software's athenaCommunicator.PrognoCIS EMR Software.Cerner Specialty Practice Management Software.eClinicalWorks EMR Software's Patient Portal and Healow App.Greenway PrimeSUITE EHR Software.NextGen Healthcare EHR Software.More items...•
Key Features of Patient PortalsEncrypted and password-protected login to a personal profile.Health history, diagnoses, allergies, and chronic conditions view.Lab test results, discharge summaries view and download.Treatment, procedures, and medication plan view.More items...
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.
Some vendors, such as athenahealth, Epic Systems and Cerner offer patient portals as one module of a complete Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. Other vendors, such as Allscripts and Medfusion, offer patient portals that can be integrated with any EHR.
Let's find out how to make a patient portal step-by-step.Identify your target audience. ... Follow your patients' priorities. ... Keep patient portal requirements in mind. ... Evaluate the efficiency of the portal. ... Consider data security concerns. ... Find your software development partner.
9 Steps to Implement a New Patient Portal SolutionResearch Different Portal Solutions. ... Look for the Right Portal Features. ... Get Buy-In from Key Stakeholders. ... Evaluate and Enhance Existing Workflows. ... Develop a Comprehensive Onboarding Plan. ... Be Prepared for a Successful Go-Live. ... Seek Out Painless Portal Migration.
Nearly 40 percent of individuals nationwide accessed a patient portal in 2020 – this represents a 13 percentage point increase since 2014. The proportion of individuals who were offered and accessed a patient portal did not increase between 2019 and 2020.
The features of patient portals may vary, but typically you can securely view and print portions of your medical record, including recent doctor visits, discharge summaries, medications, immunizations, allergies, and most lab results anytime and from anywhere you have Web access.
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.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the earliest adopters of patient portals began offering electronic tools for patient-centered communication, often “tethered” to their integrated electronic health record system.
We defined portal use as having used any of 8 eligible portal functions that directly engaged patients with the EHR on at least 2 days within the study period. The 8 portal functions align with federal Meaningful Use requirements: secure messaging with providers, requesting medication refills and appointments, and viewing after-visit summaries, medical test results, medical conditions, allergies, and immunizations. 3,21 We defined portal use as 2 uses on 2 days to identify meaningful engagement with the EHR (rather than a single log-on) and to allow for multiple devices to be used for accessing functions.
Online patient portals have the potential to be important health communication and care coordination tools for patients and providers and to improve access to healthcare for patients. 1-3 Healthcare systems and clinics use patient portals to fulfill key metrics of federal Meaningful Use requirements, including direct patient engagement; this occurs when patients view, download, and transmit health information online and use secure messaging to communicate with providers. 4 In 2010, the use of secure online patient portals by adults nationally doubled from 2 years before to 7%, 5 while integrated and academic healthcare systems reported use by more than 40% of patients. 2,6,7 Patient portals provide secure access to and interaction with healthcare-related services and information in electronic health records (EHRs). 8-10 Patient portal functions may include secure messaging with providers, requesting medication refills and appointments, and viewing laboratory results and other portions of the EHR. Use of portals has been linked to improved care quality, patient satisfaction, and health outcomes. 11-14
For bivariate analyses, we examined descriptive characteristics by race/ethnicity using χ 2 tests and examined pairwise comparisons for device use and portal use by race/ethnicity (compared with white) using 2-sample tests of proportions. We used multiple logistic regression to determine independent associations between race/ethnicity and portal use among all study enrollees. We used multinomial logistic regression to determine the relationship between race/ethnicity and devices used to access the patient portal among portal users. We report these findings as relative risk ratios; values greater than 1 suggest greater relative risk than the reference group, whereas values less than 1 suggest lower relative risk. Sensitivity analyses including the “missing” race/ethnicity and primary language category from regression models were conducted to assess the impact of missing information on results. We present descriptive information for enrollees missing race/ethnicity and primary language, but excluded these categories from the regression models because results with these categories were similar in significance and direction.
Of these portal users, 62% used desktops/laptops only, 6% used mobile devices only, and 32% used both desktops/laptops and mobile devices. Black, Hispanic, and Asian enrollees had significantly lower odds of portal use than whites. Black and Hispanic portal users also were significantly more likely to use mobile devices only (relative risk ratio, ...
Devices used to access the patient portal were identified through server logs. 22 We parsed HTTP request strings from Web server log data to identify specific devices (eg, smartphones, tablets, desktops/laptops) and mode of accessing the data (eg, Web browser, mobile application). Log data were matched with EHR records within a time window. All 8 portal functions were accessible through all devices and modes of access.
Among 318,700 Group Health enrollees, 68% were white; 4%, black; 8%, Asian; and 5%, Hispanic ( Table 1 ). Enrollees varied significantly across demographic characteristics. Twenty-six percent of white enrollees were 65 years or older compared with 11% to 14% of racial/ethnic minority enrollees. Asians and Hispanics had significantly higher proportions of enrollees with a primary language other than English (17% and 7%, respectively). Blacks had the lowest proportion living in high educational attainment areas (89%) and the highest proportion in the lowest median household income areas (43%). Mean months of enrollment during the study period did not vary by race/ethnicity (data not shown).
Because enrollee education and income had not been collected at registration, we linked enrollees’ home addresses to Census block group-level data and determined the percentage of individuals in the Census block group who completed high school and the group’s median household income. 7
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.
Patient portals typically have a lot to offer—instant access to test results and medical records, appointment booking, secure messaging, health-education materials and more. What portals don’t have is a majority of patients using them. Recently reported survey data shows that 63 percent of adults who were insured and made a health care visit in ...
Privacy and security concerns were more likely to be cited among patients older than age 40 and within certain demographic groups—Hispanics, for example—when compared with whites. Among those more likely to report no need to use a portal were Hispanic patients and those older than 50, compared with younger white patients.
Men, members of racial or ethnic minority groups, Medicaid recipients and patients without a regular source of care were among those less likely to be offered access.
The Promoting Interoperability Program incentivized health care providers to demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs through progressive demonstration of core objectives. Specifically, eligible professionals and hospitals must give patients the ability to “view online, download, and transmit their health information and hospital admission information” to meet meaningful use objectives for adoption and use of EHRs. 15, 16 However, literature has largely focused on the architecture of EHRs, facilitators of and barriers to adoption by hospitals and clinicians, and privacy and security concerns. 8 Patient studies have focused on perceptions of the utility and adoption of PPs, 17 PPs access and use in specific settings, 18, 19 and/or among specific patient populations. 19 ⇓⇓⇓– 23
Gender, education, marital status, and having a regular clinician were factors associated with access, facilitators of use, and use of PPs ( Table 2 ). Age, language proficiency, and having health insurance were also associated with PPs access and use but not race and ethnicity.
The stem question for PPs content knowledge was: “Do any of your online medical records include 1) laboratory test results, 2) current list of medications, 3) a list of health/medical problems, 4) an allergy list, 5) summaries of your office visits, 6) clinical notes, and 7) an immunization or vaccination history” [1 = yes, 0 = no / do not know]. The stem question for PPs function use was: “In the past 12 months, have you used your online medical record to 1) make appointments with a health care provider; 2) request refill of medications; 3) fill out forms or paperwork related to your health care; 4) request correction of inaccurate information; 5) securely message health care provider and staff (eg, email); 6) look up test results; 7) monitor your health; 8) download your health information to your computer or mobile device such as a cell phone or tablet; 9) add health information to share with your health care provider such as health concerns, symptoms, and side effects; and 10) help you make a decision about how to treat an illness or condition” [1 = yes, 0 = no].
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.
Lack of confidence in security of electronic records and the less frequent use of some PP functions (eg, monitor health) highlight the necessity of examining PP utility to patients in enhancing communication with clinicians and promoting trust, managing chronic disease–related decisions, and facilitating lifestyle behavioral change among patients with the highest needs. 2 Research should gauge patients’ preferences for procedural factors in using PPs, 53, 54 their perceptions of PP usability, and track their actual PPs use online by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and health literacy. 55, 56
Data on gender, age, race/ethnicity, income, education, employment, marital status, place of birth, English language proficiency, having health insurance and a regular provider, and general health were collected. Internet use, means to access the Internet, and mobile device ownership were collected. Census region and rural-urban classification were provided.
Mobile for All. https://mobileforall.org/. Accessed Feb. 4, 2019.
Figure 7: Rate of individuals accessing and using their patient portal by whether their health care provider encouraged them, 2020.
About six in 10 individuals nationwide were offered access to their patient portal and nearly 40 percent accessed their record at least once in 2020.
In May 2020, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) finalized federal rulemaking that aimed to increase the access, exchange, and use of electronic health information by patients and their caregivers (1). This rule implements key provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act that require certain certified health IT developers to adopt secure, standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable individuals to access and manage their health records using a smartphone health app of their choice (2). This brief analyzes data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults which was fielded from January 2020 through April 2020. These findings largely reflect pre-pandemic rates of individuals being offered and subsequently using their online medical record, also known as a patient portal. The brief also examines individuals’ use of smartphone health apps to manage health information, and the role of provider encouragement in prompting individuals to use these tools.
Patient portals enabled individuals to electronically communicate with their providers, view their clinical notes, and electronically share their health information with a health care provider. In 2020, about 6 in 10 patient portal users reported exchanging secure messages with a health care provider through their portal. Half of portal users reported viewing clinical notes written by a health care provider. The share of individuals who electronically shared their health information with a healthcare provider increased by seven percentage points (from 10 percent to 17 percent) from 2017. However, rates of individuals electronically transmitting their data to an app or service remains low (5 percent).
The ONC Cures Act Final Rule seeks to make health information from electronic health records more easily accessible to patients through secure, standards-based APIs that can be leveraged to create applications that can help patients manage their health information. Ultimately, ONC hopes these provisions will enable patients to more easily access and use their health information across patient portals offered by different health care providers. Examining how these trends evolve over time will provide insight regarding the extent to which this vision is realized.
The sample design for the HINTS 5, Cycle 4 (2020) survey consisted of two-stages. In the first stage, a stratified sample of addresses was selected from a file of residential addresses. In the second-stage, one adult was selected within each sampled household. The sampling frame consisted of a database of addresses used by Marketing Systems Group (MSG) to provide a random sample of addresses. Complete data were collected from 3,865 respondents. The final response rate was 37%. Results were weighted to account for non-response and generate national estimates.
Individuals’ rates of being offered and subsequently accessing their patient portal increased significantly between 2018 and 2019, but did not change in 2020. About 6 in 10 individuals nationwide were offered access to their patient portal by a health care provider or insurer, and nearly 4 in 10 individuals (38 percent) reported that they accessed their portal at least once in 2020.
Patient portals are digital health tools that provide patients with convenient, secure access to personal health information (such as laboratory results and medication lists), resources, and services such as appointment scheduling and secure messaging with providers. Patient portals have the potential to improve patient engagement with health and health care, decrease costs, and increase health care quality by facilitating health care system transactions (e.g., prescription refills), supporting patient-provider communication, and expediting access to medical records and relevant educational materials. Research indicates that patient portal use can increase patients’ understanding of their health conditions, improve patient safety, reduce caregiver burden, increase medication adherence, and improve the quality of both preventive and follow-up care. There is also some evidence to suggest that patient portal use can improve clinical outcomes.As a result of substantial investments in telehealth infrastructure and legislation mandating meaningful use of electronic health records, by 2015 most health care organizations in the United States offered patient portals. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased reliance on technologies like patient portals to facilitate virtual visits, remote monitoring, and electronic communication with providers. However, by making these technologies more central to care, the pandemic has also highlighted the inequalities that exist in their use.
A patient portal is a digital tool that enables patients to securely access their medical records and interact with the health care system through the internet.