Patient Portal Use Rising Rapidly

A new study has concluded that patient portal use has shot up over the past few years, with a substantial majority of patients reporting that they use provider portals if possible.

The purpose of the study, results of which was published in Perspectives in Health Information Management, was to examine how healthcare consumers saw their interactions with provider portals, their use of personal health records and their take on the process of releasing health data.

According to a 2015 study cited by the article’s authors, 53% of HIM professionals reported charging consumers for both electronic and paper copies of their health information. Thirty-eight percent said they had a patient portal, but less than 5% of patients were using it.

Over the last two years, however, the picture has changed a great deal. Researchers conducting the current study found that only 10% of consumers were charged for their health information. In addition, 49% reported that they maintained a personal health record. Eighty-three percent of respondents said that their providers had portals, and 82% said that they were taking advantage of their provider’s portal where available.

Patient uses for portals included viewing lab results (35%), requesting medication refills (19%), requesting appointments (22%), secure messaging (19%) and other (5%). Among portal users, 53% were very satisfied and 38% were satisfied with their experiences.

Meanwhile, 49% of respondents said they maintained PHRs, with top record format being combined paper and electronic (46%), followed by paper only (35%), electronic only (18%) and other (1%).

It’s important to note that the study population was especially healthcare-savvy. Participants chosen were campus-based and online students enrolled in a College of Health Professions course, alumni of BA programs in HIM at the researchers’ university, local AHIMA members and the researchers’ family and friends.

The article argues that because the participants were all current healthcare consumers, they were qualified participants. That may be so, but the high concentration of HIM-friendly respondents probably stacked the deck somewhat. (To be fair, the authors admit this.)

That being said, even these relatively sophisticated respondents weren’t completely comfortable with the health data access they had. Complaints cited by consumers included a lack of interoperability between physicians’ offices and electronic PHI, as well as the difficulty of getting data into the portal or updated when already present. Others reported having concerns about health data security.

All told, it looks like the hoped-for growth in patient health data use is taking place over time. I suspect that a direct comparison between less-informed consumers from 2015 and today would show less pronounced changes, though.

 

About the author

Anne Zieger

Anne Zieger is a healthcare journalist who has written about the industry for 30 years. Her work has appeared in all of the leading healthcare industry publications, and she's served as editor in chief of several healthcare B2B sites.

1 Comment

  • I don’t believe one word of the article. Most practices are having to have a staff member sit in the lobby and ask patients to access the portal after demonstrating portal usage.

    FTR I don’t mind having the portal. I mind having it being part of MIPS and MU and waste time and money on activities better spent on patient care

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