Patient Portals On the Cusp… October 9, 2013

Patient portal use to skyrocket Today, 57% of hospitals and 40% of ambulatory practices use portals, but the majority do not provide… – advanced interoperability – functionality needed to support clinical integration – accountable care – ongoing and sustainable patient engagement Growth of 221% in next 5 years – Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements for patients to ‘view, download and transmit health information’ via a portal – growing move to clinical integration and accountable care – increasing consumer demand for health information

Patient portal capabilities vary Initial installations “Portal 1.0” – Decisions on new portals overwhelmingly driven by EMR vendor relationships – the easy decision – Administrative and management issues override functionality and ease of [patient] use New portals need to provide – health information exchange across diverse care settings – integration of clinical and financial data – dynamic scheduling – social networking and gaming

Significant disruption anticipated When functionality and ease of use are given priority – most providers place less importance on having fewer vendors and interfaces – Interest is shown for 3 rd -party patient portals MU 3 requires even more functionality – offering patients the capability of submitting patient-generated information – the ability to request amendments of patients' records online – including caregiver name and contact information

Implications Portal functionality is key, especially – Interoperability Sharing records ‘seamlessly’ is the #1 driver – Customization Studies show that providers who have input into the look and feel of their portal are more likely to use it – ‘integratability’ with EMR Minimize work to interact with portal, for both patient and provider Single sign-on ideal Easily down- and up-load data

References Docs involved in patient portal creation more likely to recommend use Market Disruption Imminent as Hospitals and Physicians Aggressively Adopt Patient Portal Technology Patient portal use to skyrocket 221% Study: Providers take easy route when adding patient portals