Challenges remain, such as misinformation, digital gaps, health literacy, and organizational barriers. However, by recognizing these obstacles and applying a systemic approach to solving them, leaders can bring patients closer to their care journey.
A new frontier for aligned patient education
Patient education has the opportunity to meaningfully impact outcomes by providing patients with evidence-based information and digital content to consume in their preferred medium. A Wolters Kluwer survey showed 80% of patients had follow-up questions after a health encounter and 68% reported that receiving patient education would make them more likely to return to that provider. The desire for more health materials was stronger among non-white patient populations, providing an opportunity to impact health equity initiatives.
But the source of this education must be carefully considered. Clinicians should feel confident in the material they’re providing patients, it should be clear and appropriate for diverse populations, and it should be easily accessible within existing workflows like EHRs. Ideally, it should also be aligned with the same clinical information that care teams are referencing for determining diagnoses and care plans.
Health system customers are seeing results
Placing patients within the care journey through engagement and education was a key goal for Allina Health Cancer Institute. They recently shared how UpToDate® Patient Engagement solutions are strengthening and accelerating its patient education and outreach strategies through aligned educational materials and outreach programs. They have been able to expand their digital content library and translated materials while getting care team involvement to lay a foundation for success.
“Finding a product or a vendor that met those gaps and could keep up with the rapid growth of cancer care as well as our institute's growth was huge,” says Liz Loach, MSN, Manager of Nursing Practice in Clinical Education at AHCI. “The videos and materials were very approachable and in alignment with what we were looking for.”
And plenty more customers agree. In 2025, UpToDate Patient Engagement was ranked #1 by KLAS for Patient-driven Care Management and Patient Education, and has also been industry-recognized for the diverse content library and conversational AI outreach.
