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ONC: Hospitals Provide Health Data Access, But Many Don’t Use It

Nearly all hospitals provided patients with the ability to electronically view and download their health information in 2017, but fewer than one-quarter of their patients took advantage of their health data access, according to the ONC Data Brief for April.

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By Fred Donovan

- Nearly all hospitals provided patients with the ability to electronically view and download their health information in 2017, but fewer than one-quarter of their patients activated access to their patient portal, according to the ONC Data Brief for April.

The percentage of hospitals providing patients with the ability to view, download, and transmit their health data jumped seven-fold from 2013 to 2015, increasing slightly from 2015 to 2017, according to American Hospital Association data analyzed by ONC.

At the same time, fewer critical access hospitals (CAHs) provided patients with the ability to view, download, and transmit health data than non-CAHs.

CAHs and non-CAHs had the greatest difference, 15 percentage points, between hospital types that provided patients with the ability to view, download, and transmit their data.

Around 5 percent fewer CAHs and small hospitals provided patients with the ability to download their health information compared to non-CAHs and medium and large hospitals.

Small Hospitals Lag in Patient Access to Health Data 

Fewer small hospitals provided patients with the ability to view, download, and transmit their data compared to medium and large hospitals, according to ONC's analysis.

Hospitals where patients were able to download their health information did not vary markedly between rural (91%) and urban (90%) hospitals.

The proportion of rural hospitals (14%) that reported 25 percent to 49 percent of patients activated access to their patient portal was significantly lower than the proportion of urban hospitals (21%).

Non-CAHs were more likely to report 0 percent to 9 percent of patients activated access to their patient portal compared to CAHs.

There were no major differences between small and medium-large hospitals in terms of the percentage of patients who activated their patient portal access.

In 2017, 38 percent of hospitals reported that patients could access their health data using a healthcare application programmnig interface (API) that connects to the hospital’s electronic health record (EHR).

The percentage of hospitals that provided patients access to their health information using an API did not vary by hospital type.

“APIs can enhance patients’ access to their health information and improve how they engage with health care providers. Starting in 2019, hospitals participating in the PI [Promoting Interoperability] Program must provide patients with the ability to use a third-party app of their choice to access their patient health information electronically,” ONC said in its data brief.

“Programs that encourage hospitals to provide these capabilities to patients are important to ensure that patients have their health information when and where they need it,” ONC added.

The percentage of hospitals that provided patients with the ability to request prescription refills and request changes to their health records increased by 27 percent and 46 percent, respectively, between 2013 and 2017.

The percentage of hospitals that provided patients with the ability to request prescription refills electronically increased by 12 percentage points to 54 percent between 2015 and 2017.

The percentage of hospitals that provided patients with the ability to request changes to their EHR reported the smallest increase from 2015 to 2017.

Number of Hospitals Allowing Patient-Generated Data Jumps

The number of hospitals that provided patients with the ability to submit patient-generated data increased four-fold from 2013 to 2017.

Rural hospitals (36%) were less likely than urban hospitals (53%) to provide the capability for patients to submit patient-generated data.

Nearly 90 percent of urban hospitals, medium and large hospitals, and non-CAHs offered family members or caregivers electronic access to a patient’s health data, compared to 80 percent of rural and small hospitals and CAHs.

The capability to schedule appointments had the greatest variation among hospital types with difference of at least 21 percentage points between small and rural hospitals and CAHS and their counterparts.

Nine in 10 urban and medium-large hospitals, offered patients the capability to request changes to their health EHR compared to 7 in 10 rural and small hospitals, which is lower than the national average (8 in 10).