Cerner and Epic reported the highest patient portal utilization rates (higher than 20%), according to a recent study by peer60 that explores which vendors have the best patient engagement results. The report reveals that the right vendor can help a provider yield much higher rates of success than others. Despite Cerner and Epic’s patient portal utilization rates, the report also found key flaws in their patient portal features:
– Cerner users seemed particularly frustrated by the lack of tools for specialists. Radiology in particular seemed to suffer in working with Cerner.
– Multiple Epic users mentioned a need for improved communication with Epic personnel and needing more training on the Epic portal.
Survey Methodology/Background
peer60, a pioneer of Smart Data, used its proprietary solution to gather data from over 200 healthcare provider Chief Medical Officer, CIO’s, and other relevant decision-makers from US-based healthcare organizations over a recent three week period.
Key Findings
Based upon this research:
– Meeting the 5% patient portal threshold set forth by Meaningful Use Stage 2 is indeed possible,
though only a small percentage of providers currently are doing it.
– 10% of all respondents indicated they are not yet using a patient portal.
– Larger hospitals are more likely to succeed at this requirement than smaller providers.
– This is still a relatively new area of development so all product lines evaluated have flaws of some kind. However, clients of certain vendors are getting better results than clients of other vendors.
– Most patient portals tend to lack quite a few features that providers would find useful. These specific features are detailed within this report. These include:
-Functionality for specialists
– Integration of data with EHRs and other systems
– Appointment scheduling in portal
– Streamlined patient enrollment
– Bill pay
– Many solutions contain a serious limitation that could lead to healthcare providers violating state laws or limiting the engagement of parents and minors.
The report is available for a complementary download at http://research.peer60.com/patient-portals/.
