title: Meaningful use and the patient portal: patient enrollment, use, and satisfaction with patient portals at a later-adopting center.
abstract: Many physicians are adopting patient portals in response to governmental incentives for meaningful use (MU), but the stage 2 requirements for portal use may be particularly challenging for newer electronic health record (EHR) users. This study examined enrollment, use based on MU requirements, and satisfaction in a recently adopting fee-for-service multispecialty system. Between 2010 and 2012, overall portal enrollment increased from 13.2% to 23.1% but varied substantially by physician specialty. In 2013, more than 97% of physicians would have met requirements for a stage 2 MU utilization measure requiring that patients download personal health information, but only 38% of all physicians (87% of primary care physicians [PCPs] and 37% of other specialists) would have met e-mail requirements. Satisfaction with the portal overall and with portal-based e-mails was high. These results suggest that later-adopting PCPs can succeed in providing satisfactory record and e-mail access but specialists may find reaching e-mail thresholds more difficult.
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI jneuner@mcw.edu.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neuner
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin/Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, WI.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fedders
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut School of Business, Storrs, CT.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caravella
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bradford
authors.affiliation: Perleman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Health Equity Research Program (CHERP) at Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schapira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062527:Meaningful Use; D008875:Middle Aged; D000072638:Patient Portals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: electronic health records; meaningful use; medical informatics; patient satisfaction