Applying user engagement models from direct-to-patient online services to improve patient portal design

As part of Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems, patient portals can be powerful tools for patient engagement. However, most portals do not currently incorporate patient-centered design to assist patients in understanding and managing their health outside of the clinic setting. In this paper, we employ a qualitative analysis of direct-to-patient web sites that serve patients as the primary stakeholders. The web sites we analyzed present information and depict patients in ways that confer agency, offering patients a number of ways to educate themselves and seek further services. Our analysis identifies crucial design elements of such web sites that could be implemented into current patient portals to increase patient empowerment in understanding and managing their care. Ultimately, the proposed model of “active patient engagement” can empower patients to learn about their health and engage more actively in medical discourse, potentially impacting health outcomes

Consumers\u27 Perceptions of Patient-Accessible Electronic Medical Records

Background: Electronic health information (eHealth) tools for patients, including patient-accessible electronic medical records (patient portals), are proliferating in health care delivery systems nationally. However, there has been very limited study of the perceived utility and functionality of portals, as well as limited assessment of these systems by vulnerable (low education level, racial/ethnic minority) consumers. Objective: The objective of the study was to identify vulnerable consumers’ response to patient portals, their perceived utility and value, as well as their reactions to specific portal functions. Methods: This qualitative study used 4 focus groups with 28 low education level, English-speaking consumers in June and July 2010, in New York City. Results: Participants included 10 males and 18 females, ranging in age from 21-63 years; 19 non-Hispanic black, 7 Hispanic, 1 non-Hispanic White and 1 Other. None of the participants had higher than a high school level education, and 13 had less than a high school education. All participants had experience with computers and 26 used the Internet. Major themes were enhanced consumer engagement/patient empowerment, extending the doctor’s visit/enhancing communication with health care providers, literacy and health literacy factors, improved prevention and health maintenance, and privacy and security concerns. Consumers were also asked to comment on a number of key portal features. Consumers were most positive about features that increased convenience, such as making appointments and refilling prescriptions. Consumers raised concerns about a number of potential barriers to usage, such as complex language, complex visual layouts, and poor usability features. Conclusions: Most consumers were enthusiastic about patient portals and perceived that they had great utility and value. Study findings suggest that for patient portals to be effective for all consumers, portals must be designed to be easy to read, visually engaging, and have user-friendly navigation

The Proof is in the Power: Social Community Integration in Electronic Health Records for Elevated Patient Empowerment

With national health expenditures currently comprising nearly one fifth of the U.S. economy, recent regulations aimed at lowering costs attempt to incentivize physicians to help promote patient empowerment by encouraging increased engagement in their Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) platform (i.e. online health portal). Patient portals are an area of emerging technology in which the need to improve value to the patient is present. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently discussed their intentions to improve the patient experience and, therefore, help patients feel more empowered. It is assumed that those who are empowered are associated with cost-effective use of healthcare resources, lower healthcare dependence, and increasingly sensible behaviors that amplify health outcomes. One underlying concept in the empowerment literature is that the phenomenon is tied to an increased sense of community. Through the lens of Kanter’s theory of empowerment and therefore expanding into the network theory of social capital, this work suggests that the integration of an online sharing community within a patient’s CEHRT platform could lead to a higher level of patient empowerment. This empowerment could, in turn, lead patients to become even more involved in the online community and, therefore, encourage greater empowerment of other patients forming a hypothetical empowerment loop. It is proposed that the relationship between increased social capital and patient empowerment is moderated by the use of reputation signals to increase member role clarity

Re-thinking technology and its growing role in enabling patient empowerment

© The Author(s) 2018. The presence and increase of challenges to eHealth in today’s society have begun to generate doubts about the capability of technology in patient empowerment, especially within the frameworks supporting empowerment. Through the review of existing frameworks and articulation of patient demands, weaknesses in the current application of technology to support empowerment are explored, and key constituents of a technology-driven framework for patient empowerment are determined. This article argues that existing usage of technology in the design, development and implementation of patient empowerment in the healthcare system, although well intentioned, is insufficiently constituted, primarily as a result of fragmentation. Systems theory concepts such as holism and iteration are considered vital in improving the role of technology in enabling patient empowerment

What is eHealth?

Non utile per esam

Patient Access to Electronic Health Records: Strengths, weaknesses and what’s needed to move forward

Electronic health records (EHRs) are desired by both physicians and patients, but the transition to and acceptance of sensitive health information online has been slow. This paper reviews the current literature on EHR adoption and outlines barriers, advantages and explicit steps for moving toward the EHR ubiquity. Potential benefits of EHRs to patients and physicians include reduced costs for patients, hospitals and insurance providers, patient empowerment, less errors in records and better health outcomes, but security and privacy concerns, cost of implementation and poor electronic records management system design have proved barriers to adoption

A Question of Empowerment: Information Technology and Civic Engagement in New Haven, Connecticut

Extravagant claims have been made for the capacity of IT (information technology) to empower citizens and to enhance the capacity of civic organizations. This study of IT use by organizations and agencies in New Haven, Connecticut, 1998-2004, tests these claims, finding that the use of IT by nonprofits is selective, tending to serve agencies patronized by community elites rather than populations in need. In addition, the study finds that single interest groups are far more effective in using IT than more diverse civic and neighborhood groups.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 30. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers