The business challenge
As healthcare organizations continue to invest in health information technology, particularly patient portals, they are challenged to find effective ways of encouraging patients to visit and utilize their portals. While many organizations have created patient portals, studies show 64% of Americans do not utilize them.1 Healthcare organizations are looking for ways to increase patient engagement and to justify their investment in developing and maintaining a patient portal.
The method
NorthShore University HealthSystem, including four hospitals and a 800+ physician medical group in suburban Chicago, sought to engage portal members and encourage new patients to sign up for the portal. To drive engagement, NorthShore offered Emmi® programs via its portal and used secure messaging through the portal to contact patients to watch programs. To attract new portal members, NorthShore sent Emmi programs to patients and, at the end of the programs, provided a link that directed patients to portal registration. The effectiveness of these engagement approaches were measured.
The results
- Providing Emmi programs increased engagement on the NorthShore portal
- Providing portal links at the end of Emmi programs increase portal registration
- 62K+ programs sent via portal
- 27K+ programs viewed via portal
- 104 non-portal patients clicked to register
- 68% of non-portal patients that clicked registered
