Driving True Patient Engagement Beyond the Basic Patient Portal

Comprehensive patient view, communication and data sharing, and population health management are key components

Federal agencies have been incenting healthcare providers to leverage their electronic health records (EHRs) to get patients involved in the management of their care. Most organizations, however, haven’t moved beyond patient engagement as an item to be checked off in order to receive meaningful use incentive funding.

Typically, providers rely on patient portal functionality that healthcare IT vendors package with their EHR products. While fulfilling requirements of meaningful use, these basic portals are EHR-tethered and single source, and have done very little to engage patients in their care.

The next-generation portals, however, are interoperable, which allows them to be an integral part of a robust patient engagement initiative – one that transforms patient behavior and mindset so patients can take an active role in their self-care.