Patient Portals Need More Study

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Although MU encourages the use of patient portals, experts say there is still little information on their measurable benefits.

A recent review in the Journal of Medical Internet Research suggests that, although patient portals are sure to have a positive effect, more study is needed confirm the measurable benefits.

“Very few studies associated use of the patient portal, or its features, to improved outcomes,” study authors from Texas State University wrote in the study abstract. “Thirty-seven percent (10/27) of papers reported improvements in medication adherence, disease awareness, self-management of disease, a decrease of office visits, an increase in preventative medicine, or an increase in extended office visits, at the patient’s request for additional information. The results also show an increase in quality in terms of patient satisfaction and customer retention, but there are weak results on medical outcomes.”

MobiHealth News reports the study set out to see whether hospitals that were meeting MU guidelines with their patient portals were actually seeing adoption of those portals or improved medical outcomes as a result. Because there were not enough studies conducted on the benefits of the portals, their study was inconclusive.

“To improve the association of use of the patient portal with Meaningful Use, hospital administrators should focus heavily on the incorporation of training in proper portal use for patients,” the study says. “Portal developers should conduct ease-of-use studies on their products. If the portal is not easy to navigate, it will not be used. Policy makers should consider the extension of Meaningful Use incentives in the area that affects patient portals. The market has been slow to adapt, and as a result, the maturity of the portal is not where it needs to be in order to improve quality of care and more deeply involve the patient in the medical decision.”

“Future research should focus on use of the patient portal and empirically measured quality indicators such as medical outcomes, medication adherence, and patient satisfaction,” the authors write. “Preferably, the study designs should be RCTs, or at a minimum, an experimental design. The patient portal has great potential to meet both intents of Meaningful Use, but there is not sufficient evidence to declare its efficacy.”