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One health IT analyst says healthcare leaders need to think past the patient portal and focus on broader patient engagement technology models by heather landi
Traditional methods of digital patient engagement by healthcare providers typically entail a patient portal where patients can access their health records, look at test results or refill prescriptions. There has been data to indicate patients are interested in digital health tools, such as mobile apps, yet industry data also indicates that patient portal usage remains fairly low.
As previously reported by Healthcare Informatics, a Harris Poll survey released in June found that only 9 percent of 2.000 polled adults use a portal to set up appointments, with 13 percent of millennials using portals to book appointments. The Harris Poll survey found that more consumers are using portals to get test results (23 percent) and to get prescriptions and refills (11 percent). Almost a third of respondents (29 percent) report using a portal to look at their current health data.
Additionally, a survey by NEJM Catalyst, which is part of the NEJM Group that produces the New England Journal of Medicine, found that most healthcare organizations are still in the pilot or planning stages for the next wave of patient engagement in order to increase patients' meaningful participation in their own care. According to that survey, 88 percent of healthcare leaders surveyed said their organizations currently use or have plans to implement a patient portal, but with regard to other approaches such as patient-generated data, social networks and wireless/wearable devices, and it seems most efforts are still in pilot or planning stages.
According to Brian Eastwood, a lead analyst with Chilmark Research, a Boston-based health IT research and advisory firm, the current model for patient engagement-the patient portal-is outdated, does not encourage behavior change and should he replaced with a broader engagement technology model. During a recent webinar, Eastwood addressed the need for broader patient engagement tools and presented findings from a recent Chilmark insight report examining how to use technology for improved engagement.
In the report, Chilmark researchers contend that market pressures as well as government regulations force consumers to take more responsibility for managing their health and paying for their healthcare. However, "effective, easy-to-use tools for helping...