Opportunities and Challenges for Improving the Patient Experience in the Acute and Post–Acute Care Setting Using Patient Portals: The Patient’s Perspective
Efforts to improve the patient experience are increasingly focusing on engaging patients and their “care partners” by using patient portals. The Acute Care Patient Portal Task Force was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to convene a national meeting of an interdisciplinary group of stakeholders, including patient advocates, to consider how the acute and postacute care patient experience can be improved by using patient-facing technologies. We identified key opportunities and challenges for enhancing cognitive support, promoting respect while maintaining boundaries, and facilitating patient and family empowerment through the lens of the patient. Institutions, clinicians, and vendors would benefit tremendously by considering these 3 patient-centered themes when partnering with patients and family advisors to implement and realize the full potential of patient portals to enhance the acute and postacute care experience.
© 2017 Society of Hospital Medicine
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
In summary, the patient-centered themes we identified serve as guiding principles for institutions, clinicians, and vendors who wish to use patient portals to improve the acute and postacute care patient experience. One central message resonates: Patients do not simply want access to their health information and the ability to communicate with the clinicians who furnish this information; they want to feel supported, respected, and empowered when doing so. It is only through partnership with patients and their advocates that we can fully realize the impact of digital technologies when patients are in their most vulnerable state.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank their colleagues and the patient and family advocates who contributed to this body of work as part of the Acute Care Patient Portal Task Force and conference: Brittany Couture; Ronen Rozenblum, PhD, MPH; Jennifer Prey, MPhil, MS, PhD; Kristin O’Reilly, RN, BSN, MPH; Patricia Q. Bourie, RN, MS, Cindy Dwyer, RN, BSN,S; Ryan Greysen, MD, MHS, MA; Jeffery Smith, MPP; Michael Gropper, MD, PhD; Patricia Dykes, RN, PhD; Martha B. Carnie; Jeffrey W. Mello; and Jane Webster.
Disclosure
Anuj K. Dalal, MD, David W. Bates, MD, MSc, and Sarah Collins, RN, PhD, are responsible for the conception or design of the work; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and final approval of the version to be published. The authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. This work was supported by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation ([GBMF] #4993). GBMF had no role in the design or conduct of the study; the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; or preparation or review of the manuscript. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of GBMF. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
