Patient Access to Health Information

Poor Health Data Integration Harms the Patient Experience

by Sara Heath

The lack of data integration is starting to wear on the overall patient experience, with new survey data showing that 83 percent of patients have to provide the same health histories they have in the...

Patient Engagement Technologies Add to Streamlined Patient Experience

by Sara Heath

Patient engagement technologies, like patient portals, contribute to an overall better patient experience because they enable patient data access and digital patient-provider communication, according...

Personal Health Record (PHR) Use Ups Cancer Follow-Up Rate to 86%

by Sara Heath

Personal health record (PHR) use is key to driving patient engagement, with recent JMIR Cancer data showing PHR use among colorectal cancer survivors increasing access to follow-up care and screening...

Digital Patient Data Access Grows in Large Hospitals, Lags in Small Orgs

by Sarai Rodriguez

Digital patient data access remains somewhat stable in the nation’s hospitals, with modest gains in patient portal and FHIR-based app access, according to an October data brief from the Office of...

In-Person Patient Portal Training Raises Patient Satisfaction

by Sarai Rodriguez

Healthcare organizations can trigger improvements in patient satisfaction and engagement by providing in-person patient portal training to hospitalized patients, according to a study from the Ohio...

YouTube, KFF Promote Health Equity Through Patient Education

by Sarai Rodriguez

In partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), YouTube has launched The-IQ – tackling health equity through Information Quality, a patient education video series scaling communication...

Ciox Health Faces Lawsuit Over Excessive Health Record Copying Fees

by Sarai Rodriguez

Ciox Health, a Georgia-based health record management vendor, has reached a $1.85 million settlement to resolve allegations that claimed the company charged excessive health record copying fees during...

Closing Digital Divide Requires More Than Patient Access to Health IT

by Sara Heath

It’ll take more than improving patient access to health IT to close the digital divide, according to a new assessment from the VA’s Office of Inspector General. The OIG report found that a...

Understanding Proxy Access for the Patient Portal, Privacy Questions

by Sara Heath

A medical encounter rarely only involves the patient; with the rise in family engagement, most patients have at least some loved ones involved in their care, making proxy access a key feature of the patient portal. The patient portal is...

Patient Data Access Elusive for Nearly Half of Healthcare Consumers

by Sarai Rodriguez

Even though the vast majority of Americans want quick patient data access, many of them struggle to obtain their health records, uncovered a new survey conducted by Propellar Insights on behalf of...

Are Patient Portals the Future of Patient-Provider Relationships?

by Sara Heath

It’s time for healthcare professionals to begin reconsidering patient portals as not only tools for patient data access, but also as tools for building the patient-provider relationship. As digital health and patient engagement...

Medical Misinformation Exposure Reduces Patient Health Literacy

by Sarai Rodriguez

Medical misinformation has been spreading rapidly nationwide, causing many Americans to struggle to identify the difference between fact and fiction and hampering patient health literacy, according to...

Social Determinants of Health Limit Preventive Care Access

by Sarai Rodriguez

According to researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, underserved populations were the most likely to have an overdue cervical cancer screening, underscoring social...

Exploring the Past, Future of SMART Health Cards, Patient Data Access

by Sara Heath

It’s been a banner year for patient data access, with innovations like SMART Health Cards from the Vaccine Credential Initiative (VCI) and the Commons Project putting information like COVID-19 test results and proof of vaccination...

Smartphone Patient Portal Use Lags mHealth Apps For Now

by Sara Heath

People aren’t using a smartphone patient portal nearly as much as they are using other mHealth apps on their mobile phones right now, but the potential is there for smartphone patient data access...

Parents Viewing Teens’ Patient Portals Spur Talk of Proxy Accounts

by Sara Heath

More than half of adolescent patient portal accounts allow guardian proxy access, according to data published in JAMA Network Open, something the researchers said should be a consideration as...

How to Write Open Clinical Notes for a Good Patient Experience

by Sara Heath

There is a new compliance mandate in healthcare, one that despite all of its good intentions for patients is leaving some providers worried about the healthcare experience. Requirements for open notes and patient access to clinical notes,...

4 SDOH Driving Health Disparities in Patient Portal Use

by Sara Heath

As patient portal use and access become more commonplace in healthcare, it would be prudent for health IT leaders and clinicians alike to understand the health disparities that can also emerge with...

What Is Patient-Generated Health Data, Why Is It Important?

by Sara Heath

The regulatory push for better patient data access, coupled with the insurgence of remote patient monitoring technology, has brought to the forefront a key type of health information: patient-generated...

What Providers Must Know About Patient Access to Clinical Notes

by Sara Heath

Editor's Note: The ONC has since extended the deadline for providing patient access to clinical notes to April 5, 2021. As part of the 21st Century Cures Act, the federal government will soon...