Evaluating the Effectiveness of Current Types of Patient Portal Education Efforts

Hospitals and providers participating in Meaningful Use are required to show 5% enrollment rate in their patient portals in order to receive incentive payments. The challenge with this is determining how to effectively market the portal in order to educate patients that the portal exists that also results in patients enrolling in the portal. A survey of patients was conducted at Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville Texas to identify how they are hearing about the patient portal and if they are signing-up as a result. While the response rate was low, the survey results did indicate what form of education is working for HRMC and what is not. It also provided insight into the demographics of patients, in terms of gender and age, that are signing up for the portal. This information will be valuable to HRMC by helping them develop further education materials in order to increase enrollment rate to meet meaningful use requirements.