ONC reports seven-fold jump in hospital patient access to electronic health information

Seven in 10 hospitals provided their patients with the ability to view, download and transmit their health information electronically in 2015, a seven-fold increase from 2013, according to a report released today by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. At least 40% of hospitals in every state had these patient engagement capabilities, although small and critical access hospitals continued to lag behind larger hospitals. Among other capabilities, about three-quarters of hospitals enabled patients to request an amendment to their health data and offered patients the ability to electronically pay their bills; and more than one-third enabled patients to submit patient-generated data, a three-fold increase from 2013. For more information, see the recent AHA TrendWatch on the issue.