study: patient portal usage is low

Studies have shown that patient portal utilization is low but has increased over time. A nationally representative study from 2018 found that 63% of patients who had a medical visit within the past year did not use a patient portal. 21 Although overall usage is low, several studies have demonstrated increased usage of patient portals over time.

Full Answer

What is the relationship between patient portal utilization and health outcomes?

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between patient portal utilization and health outcomes, specifically indicating a link between increased portal use and increased rates of patient engagement [6-9].

What is a patient portal?

A patient portal is a secure online website, managed by a health care organization, that provides patients access to their personal health information [1-3]. Portals were developed to provide patients with a platform through which to claim ownership over their health care.

How many Americans use patient portals?

Usage of patient portals is abysmal, especially considering “nearly nine in 10 Americans are online; Facebook has 214 million users in the United States and 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone,” according to Rebecca Vesely of the Association of Health Care Journalists.

Which patient portal metrics are most commonly studied?

Patient use was the most commonly studied patient portal metric, analyzed in 90% (78/87) of studies. Super user designations were only found in 24% (21/87) of studies, making this the least commonly studied metric. Table 2identifies the frequency with which each metric was included in each study, with totals for each metric [6-10,18,22-102].

Why do people not use patient portals?

For some people, they avoid using the portals altogether for reasons like security issues, low health literacy, or lack of internet. Even for those who do access their accounts, there are still other disadvantages of patient portals.Nov 11, 2021

What percent of patients use patient portals?

FINDINGS. Nearly 40 percent of individuals nationwide accessed a patient portal in 2020 – this represents a 13 percentage point increase since 2014.Sep 21, 2021

How do you improve patient portals?

Here are some ways to encourage patient enrollment:Include information about the patient portal on your organization's website.Provide patients with an enrollment link before the initial visit to create a new account.Encourage team members to mention the patient portal when patients call to schedule appointments.More items...•Jun 25, 2020

How effective are patient portals?

Improve Clinical Outcomes Patient portals make tasks such as requesting prescription refills and referrals easier and more convenient leads to greater patient compliance – and when patients follow doctors' orders, clinical outcomes improve.Dec 8, 2017

Do patient portals improve healthcare?

Background. Engaging patients in the delivery of health care has the potential to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction. Patient portals may enhance patient engagement by enabling patients to access their electronic medical records (EMRs) and facilitating secure patient-provider communication.

Are patient portals easy to use?

Patient portals streamline the workflow of practice and help it share each patient's medical records with each of them. But, then it has some ethical issues that need to be considered before running one in your practice. Portals make it easy for practices to allow all their patients access to their medical records.Nov 11, 2021

How do you optimize patient portals for patient engagement and meet meaningful use requirements?

Meet Meaningful Use Requirements The portal must be engaging and user- friendly, and must support patient-centered outcomes. The portal also must be integrated into clinical encounters so the care team uses it to convey information, communicate with patients, and support self-care and decision-making as indicated.

What is the goal of HIE?

The purpose of HIE is to promote the appropriate and secure access and retrieval of a patient's health information to improve the cost, quality, safety and speed of patient care.

How can patient compliance with portal registration be increased?

Provide print materials in the office. • Leave portal pamphlets in the exam room for patients to read while they wait to see the physician. ... Promote the portal online. • ... Prepare your office and staff. • ... Adapt existing office workflows. • ... Equip your staff with talking points. • ... Offer incentives to patients and staff. •

What should be in a patient portal?

A robust patient portal should include the following features:Clinical summaries.Secure (HIPAA-compliant) messaging.Online bill pay.New patient registration.Ability to update demographic information.Prescription renewals and contact lens ordering.Appointment requests.Appointment reminders.More items...

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

How do patient portals affect nursing?

Takeaways: Patient portals facilitate patient engagement in healthcare decisions, improve communication, and streamline care. Less than one-third of patients access patient portals to view their medical data. Nurses can improve patient portal use by explaining the benefits and providing education.Dec 20, 2021

Why don't people use the patient portal?

The research team found that patients with chronic health problems who were younger or white were more likely than others to use the patient portal. Among patients who said they didn’t use the portal, the most common reasons were. Wanting to get care in person or by phone (54 percent)

How does a patient portal help?

Article Highlight: Access to a patient portal can increase engagement in outpatient visits by patients with diabetes and those with multiple complex chronic conditions, according to a PCORI-funded study spotlighted recently in PLOS One. The study showed that portal use was associated with significantly fewer emergency room visits and preventable hospital stays for patients with multiple complex conditions. By increasing patient office visits, a portal could potentially help clinicians address unmet clinical needs and reduce health events that lead to emergency and hospital care. The observational study compared visit rates for 165,000 patients with and without portal access in a large healthcare system that implemented a patient portal.

What is patient portal?

Patient portals are secure websites where patients can view their health records, view test results, send messages to their doctor, and ask for prescription refills. Patients with chronic, or long-term, health problems such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease must often coordinate their care across different doctors in multiple locations.

What is the objective of a patient portal?

Objective 1: no follow-up for study outcomes. Objective 2: 2-year follow-up for study outcomes. Patient portals are secure websites where patients can access their health records. In this study, researchers, patients, clinicians, and other health system staff collaborated to design a survey to understand the drivers of and barriers ...

What is a peer review in PCORI?

Peer review of PCORI-funded research helps make sure the report presents complete, balanced, and useful information about the research . It also assesses how the project addressed PCORI’s Methodology Standards. During peer review, experts read a draft report of the research and provide comments about the report. These experts may include a scientist focused on the research topic, a specialist in research methods, a patient or caregiver, and a healthcare professional. These reviewers cannot have conflicts of interest with the study.

What is a patient portal?

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.

What are the factors that affect access to PPs?

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.

Why are portals so complicated?

A big issue for many users is that portals are simply too complicated for at least two opposite kinds of users: those who have low computer literacy, and those who are so computer savvy that they expect the simplicity of an Uber or Instagram app to get a test result or appointment with a click or two.

How many benefits do portals provide?

Similarly, healthcare providers can achieve at least three big benefits from patients’ portal-usage: greater efficiencies, cost-savings and improved health outcomes — again, only if patients use their portals. But with only 20% of patients regularly relying on portals, many benefits have been unattainable.

Can rapid access replace patient rights?

Rapid access cannot replace patients’ rights to understand. Even if a test result isn’t recognizably negative, a portal presentation of an uninterpreted report can be painful to patients and certainly unproductive.

Is the portal concept slow?

Acceptance of the portal concept continues to be slow, especially within physicians’ offices and small to middle size hospitals. Though these providers implemented portals via their Meaningful Use / MIPS incentives, portals are often not treated as a central communications tool. Patient engagement? Yes…a laudable objective for policymakers — but many physicians already lament the deep cuts in their daily patient schedule that have been created by complex EHR-related obligations. The added work of portal interaction has been the opposite of a pot-sweetener, despite touted financial benefits.

What Was The Research About?

What Were The Results?

• The research team found that patients with chronic health problems who were younger or white were more likely than others to use the patient portal. Among patients who said they didn’t use the portal, the most common reasons were 1. Wanting to get care in person or by phone (54 percent) 2. Not often using a computer with access to the internet (41 ...

See more on pcori.org

Who Was in The Study?

What Did The Research Team do?

What Were The Limits of The Study?

How Can People Use The Results?