“Have you been wondering whether all this emphasis on electronic medical systems has actually helped the patient? ”
This question was asked and explored by  Seth Emont, Ph.D., M.S., who is  the principal of White Mountain Research Associates, L.L.C. He researches and evaluates the delivery and quality of clinical care.

After researching this question, he has written the following paper:

“Measuring the Impact of Patient Portals: What the Literature Tells Us”

Patient portals can offer important benefits to patients and provider organizations. These technologies – particularly when integrated with an electronic health record (EHR) – have the potential to improve both quality and access to care through features that enable patients to: communicate electronically and securely with their provider; access their medical records; schedule appointments; pay bills; and refill prescriptions.

This paper examines research documenting the implementation of patient portals and their impact on health care delivery. It is intended to inform the work of health care providers – particularly safety-net organizations – as they plan and implement patient portals and develop measurement strategies for assessing their impact.

Many research initiatives document patient-level measures such as use of patient portals features, user demographics, and overall satisfaction with the portal. A limited number of studies bridge the gap between patient-level measures and long-term outcome measures, including health care quality indicators and operational efficiency.

Factors that point to future acceleration of patient portal use and impact measurement include: (1) the need to meet meaningful use requirements; (2) a greater focus on patient- and family-centered care; and (3) increased patient demand for health buy cat inhalers information technology.

A limited number of studies bridge the gap between patient-level measures and long-term outcome measures, including health care quality indicators and operational efficiency. There is scant research on cost-savings resulting from the implementation of patient portals. However, with patient-level measures in place — and with appropriate integration with an EHR and links to other sources of administrative data — it will be possible for many clinics that adopt patient portals to eventually link this information to long-term health outcomes, operational efficiency measures, and cost- effectiveness.

Portals offer a number of potential benefits to providers, including administrative efficiencies (e.g., reduced call volume), improved responsiveness to patients’ needs, decreased utilization of health services, more effective care, and cost savings. To be successful, they should be assessed using measures that span across improvements in patient and family engagement (e.g., overall use and satisfaction with use and care), clinical outcomes, and operational efficiency.

A number of external factors will likely accelerate uptake and more widespread use of measurement strategies that incorporate impact assessment. They include: (1) the need to meet meaningful use requirements; (2) a greater focus on patient- and family-centered care; and (3) increased patient demand for health information technology. All of these factors point to the importance of seeking regular feedback from patients on portal features as a mechanism to improve and expand capabilities and increase overall access.

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Although this research was done for the State of California and a review of the healthcare system in that state, this broad issue really pertains to all of us.