patient portal readmission rates

by Nathanial Lehner 5 min read

Patient Portals - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

26 hours ago Jun 06, 2016 · Results. Of 2,975 eligible patients, 83.4% were non-users; 8.6% were light users; and 8.0% were active users of My UNC Chart. The messaging feature was used most often. For patients who were active users, the odds of being readmitted within 30 days was 66% greater than patients who were non-users (p<0.05). >> Go To The Portal


Hospital readmission is measured as having more than one hospital admission within a 30-day period, and is a key clinical quality measure for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) alternative payment programs. When patients were frequent patient portal users, they yielded 2 percent fewer hospital readmissions, the researchers reported.

The researchers found that active users of their patient portal system had a dramatically higher rate of readmission (66%) than nonusers of the portal system. Their study cohort was hypothesized to have more medical problems and may have benefited from readmissions.

Full Answer

What is a hospital readmission?

Jun 06, 2016 · Results. Of 2,975 eligible patients, 83.4% were non-users; 8.6% were light users; and 8.0% were active users of My UNC Chart. The messaging feature was used most often. For patients who were active users, the odds of being readmitted within 30 days was 66% greater than patients who were non-users (p<0.05).

What is the readmission rate for AMI patients?

Results: Of 2,975 eligible patients, 83.4% were non-users; 8.6% were light users; and 8.0% were active users of My UNC Chart. The messaging feature was used most often. For patients who were active users, the odds of being readmitted within 30 days was 66% greater than patients who were non-users (p<0.05).

Does a CR program improve readmission rates?

Feb 26, 2021 · However, recent research by Sharma and colleagues and Lin et al. found that patient portal access is still underused, [12,47] suggesting there remains a need for policymakers and other stakeholders to intervene and incentivize portal adoption and use in order to realize greater reduction in readmission risk. Given the positive correlation among ...

What is the Medicare fee for service (FFS) readmission rate?

Jun 08, 2020 · What’s more, strong patient portal use was tied to lower readmission rates. Hospital readmission is measured as having more than one hospital admission within a 30-day period, and is a key clinical quality measure for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) alternative payment programs.

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Do patient portals improve outcomes?

Patient portal interventions lead to improvements in a wide range of psychobehavioral outcomes, such as health knowledge, self-efficacy, decision making, medication adherence, and preventive service use.

How common are patient portals?

A subsequent Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) data brief, based on the HINTS survey, reported that as of 2018, 52% of patients had patient portal access. Only around 28% had accessed the portal within the last year.Dec 2, 2019

How can the patient portal affect patient satisfaction?

Our model shows that patient portal use can influence patient satisfaction through the mediating effects of gratification, health self-awareness, and health perception. ... Therefore, by promoting effective patient portal use and fostering patient perceptions, health care organizations can improve patient satisfaction.

Why patient portal messages indicate risk of readmission for patients with ischemic heart disease?

While the number of patient portal messages is increasing, analyzing the patient reported information in their messages is still limited. Identifying the signals in portal messages that indicate the risk of readmission can help providers apply interventions to avoid adverse events.Mar 4, 2020

What are the best patient portals?

Top patient portal vendors include Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner, and Epic.Cerner Corporation. ... READ MORE: Patient Portal Use Lagging Despite Strong Provider Support.CPSI. ... Epic Systems. ... InteliChart. ... MEDHOST. ... MEDITECH. ... RelayHealth.More items...•Apr 28, 2017

What are the benefits of patient portals?

The truth is, there are a lot of benefits to using a patient portal for providers.Better Patient Communication. ... Streamline Patient Registration and Administrative Tasks. ... Greater Focus on Patient Care. ... Better Patient-Physician Relationships. ... Improve Clinical Outcomes. ... Optimize Medical Office Workflow.Dec 8, 2017

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

Do patients like patient portals?

Eight studies reported that patients or their caregivers want more portal education, training, or support. Two studies found that their participants want human connection as they learn about the portal and how to use it, as well as when they encounter issues.Jan 25, 2021

Why do some patients fail to participate in the use of the patient portal?

The reason why most patients do not want to use their patient portal is because they see no value in it, they are just not interested. The portals do not properly incentivize the patient either intellectually (providing enough data to prove useful) or financially.

How long does it take for a hospital to readmission?

Hospital readmission is measured as having more than one hospital admission within a 30-day period, and is a key clinical quality measure for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) alternative payment programs. When patients were frequent patient portal users, they yielded 2 percent fewer hospital readmissions, the researchers reported.

How does a patient portal work?

And as a result, the patient portal works to cut healthcare costs, promising a positive return on investment for healthcare organizations. When patients are healthier, they require fewer healthcare interventions, and in turn spark less healthcare spending.

How does health information technology reduce readmission risk?

Health information technology (IT) is often proposed as a solution to fragmentation of care , and has been hypothesized to reduce read mission risk through better information flow. However, there are numerous distinct health IT capabilities, and it is unclear which, if any, are associated with lower readmission risk.#N#To identify the specific health IT capabilities adopted by hospitals that are associated with hospital-level risk-standardized readmission rates (RSRRs) through path analyses using structural equation modeling.#N#This STROBE-compliant retrospective cross-sectional study included non-federal U.S. acute care hospitals, based on their adoption of specific types of health IT capabilities self-reported in a 2013 American Hospital Association IT survey as independent variables. The outcome measure included the 2014 RSRRs reported on Hospital Compare website.#N#A 54-indicator 7-factor structure of hospital health IT capabilities was identified by exploratory factor analysis, and corroborated by confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequent path analysis using Structural equation modeling revealed that a one-point increase in the hospital adoption of patient engagement capability latent scores (median path coefficient ß = −0.086; 95% Confidence Interval, −0.162 to −0.008), including functionalities like direct access to the electronic health records, would generally lead to a decrease in RSRRs by 0.086%. However, computerized hospital discharge and information exchange capabilities with other inpatient and outpatient providers were not associated with readmission rates.#N#These findings suggest that improving patient access to and use of their electronic health records may be helpful in improving hospital performance on readmission; however, computerized hospital discharge and information exchange among clinicians did not seem as beneficial – perhaps because of the quality or timeliness of information transmitted. Future research should use more recent data to study, not just adoption of health IT capabilities, but also whether their usage is associated with lower readmission risk. Understanding which capabilities impact readmission risk can help policymakers and clinical stakeholders better focus their scarce resources as they invest in health IT to improve care delivery.

How much money does the US government give to improve health information technology?

Through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, the United States (US) government has provided more than $27 billion to subsidize the adoption of health Information Technology (IT) capabilities, under the premise that improved information capture and transfer across various care settings will improve patient outcomes. [1–3]

How many items are in the AHA IT supplement survey?

From the AHA IT supplement survey, we identified 55 survey items, also referred to as indicators, to conduct the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) in order to derive and validate specific factors representing hospital health IT capabilities that were plausibly clinically important to reducing readmissions. These items were selected from various sections of the AHA IT supplement survey, including meaningful use functionalities (topic 2, 19 items), health information exchange functionalities (topic 3, 24 items), and patient engagement functionalities (topics 7 and 8, 8 and 4 items, respectively).

How many hospitals were there in 2013?

As displayed in Figure 1, there were 3,283 hospitals in the 2013 AHA annual survey IT supplement dataset. Of these hospitals, 62 were federal hospitals and were excluded. Among the 3,221 non-federal hospitals remaining, 37% were in rural areas; 28% were teaching hospitals; 50% were relatively small hospitals with less than 100 beds (including 23% critical access hospitals), 14% were relatively large hospitals with more than 400 beds, and the rest (36%) were medium-sized hospitals. Means and standard deviations (SD) are reported in Figure 1 because non-normality is not an issue for the distributions of data across the 1000 pairs of randomly-split samples, as confirmed by the results of the Shapiro–Wilk test ( P = .73). After excluding those without hospital Medicare Provider IDs and RSRRs, a mean of 1,335 hospitals (SD = 27.4) were linked to the CMS Hospital Compare database, representing our final analytic dataset.

How many derivation sets were used for EFA?

The 1000 derivation sets were used to conduct the EFA. The estimation of the tetrachoric correlation matrix converged for 619 of them. For the factor structure, we reported medians and IQRs because the Shapiro-Wilk test revealed P values of <.05 for more than half of the variables that loaded on the seven factors, demonstrating non-normality. On the basis of the median loading values and IQRs for the factor structure suggested by EFA (see Appendix A, http://links.lww.com/MD/F672 ), and the loading frequencies (see Appendix B, http://links.lww.com/MD/F673 ), we retained 54 survey items with high loadings, and deleted the one with low median factor loading and frequency.

When did readmission reduction start?

Readmission rates have long been a trusted measure of effective and responsible care, but only since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 established the readmission reduction program (effective October 1, 2012) did it become a primary assessment driver in the industry.

How long does it take to get readmitted from a hospital?

Beyond the government sector, studies have found that 15 to 25 percent of people discharged from a hospital will be readmitted within 30 days or less and that a large number of those readmissions are preventable.

What is HRRP in Medicare?

HRRP is a Medicare value-based purchasing program that encourages hospitals to improve communication and care coordination to better engage patients and caregivers in discharge plans and, in turn, reduce avoidable readmissions.

How long does it take for an unplanned readmission to happen?

Unplanned readmissions that happen within 30 days of discharge from the index (i.e., initial) admission. Patients who are readmitted to the same hospital, or another applicable acute care hospital for any reason. Readmissions to any applicable acute care hospital are counted, no matter what the principal diagnosis was.

When did the HRRP start?

Section 3025 of the Affordable Care Act required the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to establish the HRRP starting October 1, 2012 (i.e., Federal Fiscal Year [FY] 2013).

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