Patient portals (sometimes referred to as a Patient Access Portals (PAP) or personal health records in the UK) contains a subset of patient health data and engagement tools which patients can access online. Patient portals are tethered to an electronic health record (EHR) which is an internal digital software used by medical practitioners to manage care and record clinical notes and more in-depth patient data.
The patient can access a subset of their health data via the patient portal 24/7 using a username and password which allows them to virtually engage with their physician’s office.
The degree of engagement with electronic health data and medical practitioners varies widely based on the functionalities that are enabled by the electronic health record vendor as well as the tools the clinic has chosen to enable. Some patients have no access at all to a patient portal or have extremely limited functions versus other patients having access to a plethora of functions.
In June 2021, Strategy Analytics surveyed 330 respondents in the US and UK to gauge their perceptions about the ease of use and usefulness of patient portals as well as aspects of their design such as features, privacy concerns and so on.
The Goals of this survey report are to:
•Determine how commonly patient portals are being used
•Determine perceived usability of patient portal tools
•Understand how useful certain features are to patients
•Report satisfaction with patient portals
•Determine differences in attitudes between the US and UK
•Provide insights based on the results
Table of Contents
Introduction - 3
Patient Portals: Access & Usage - 8
Active Users: Perceived Usability of Patient Portals - 14
Non-Active Users: Perceived Usability of Patient Portals - 19
Feature Focus: Usefulness of Features - 23
Conclusions - 27
More Information - 32