More and more patients are going online to access their health data, according to a Trend Watch report by the American Hospital Association.
The health IT issue brief highlights data from a 2016 AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement it administered to community hospitals between November 2016 to April 2017.
Here are five things to know.
1. Almost every hospital and health system (93 percent) enable patients to view their health record online, up from 27 percent in 2012.
2. More organizations are allowing patients to pay their bills online, with 78 percent of hospitals and health systems featuring the service in 2017, compared to 51 percent in 2012. Features like requesting prescription refills online, scheduling appointments online and securely messaging providers have also expanded over the last five years.
3. Larger hospitals with at least 100 beds are more likely to offer comprehensive online access to health data, with 91 percent of hospitals with 300 beds or more enabling patients to download information from their health records, compared to 79 percent of hospitals with fewer than 100 beds.
4. Large hospitals with at least 300 beds are more likely to allow patients to submit their own generated data (53 percent), compared to hospitals with 100-299 beds (43 percent) and hospitals with fewer than 100 beds (30 percent).
5. "More sophisticated systems allow patients to obtain healthcare services through an online patient portal, conduct activities such as requesting prescription refills, schedule appointments, pay bills and securely message their healthcare providers," the report reads. "These activities support a patient-centered healthcare system in which patients are partners with their healthcare providers and share in decision making."
Click here to download the report.
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