Patient Digital Engagement Index: athenahealth research team share insights from 50 Million US patients
Exec Summary
The athenahealth Patient Digital Engagement Index (PDEI) is a metric that tracks patient use of digital tools that interact with electronic health records (EHRs). The index measures three core digital activity categories: access to care, financial activity, and healthcare information.
The PDEI score is calculated by looking at how practices are using online tools for activities such as patient scheduling, paying bills, and viewing test results. The research tracked and measured the digital engagement of practices on the athenaOne® network from 2021 to 2024.
The athenahealth Research team gathered critical data from a sample including over 6,300 practices on the athenaOne® network and over 50 million patients. The team found that the median score for 2023 is still only ~14 out of 100, highlighting the opportunity for improvement across the activities athenahealth tracks (messaging, scheduling, and payments).
The athenahealth Patient Digital Engagement Index is a valuable tool for practices to track patient engagement and identify areas for improvement. By improving patient digital engagement, practices can improve patient care and satisfaction.
The most digitally engaged patients are White or Asian millennial women who live in more urban areas (as compared to other races, genders, age groups, and geographic locations). Women’s health and behavioural health are shown to have the highest digital engagement scores among specialties.
The athenahealth Patient Digital Engagement Index (PDEI) is a metric that measures how patients interact with their healthcare providers using digital tools. It was developed by athenahealth, a company that provides software and services for healthcare organisations. The PDEI is based on three core factors:
Access to care: This measures how many patient appointments are booked, confirmed, rescheduled, or canceled using online tools.
Financial activity: This measures how many bills are paid online and how many statements are delivered electronically.
Healthcare information: This measures how many times patients digitally check in before the appointment and how often they view their test results online.
The PDEI was first introduced in 2023, and athenahealth has been tracking data on patient digital engagement since 2021. The company has found that patient digital engagement has been steadily growing, but there is still room for improvement. The median PDEI score in 2023 was only about 14 out of 100, which means that most patients are not taking full advantage of the digital tools that are available to them.
athenahealth has also found that there are certain demographic groups that are more likely to be digitally engaged than others. For example, white and Asian patients are more likely to use digital tools than Black and Latino patients. Millennials are also more likely to be digitally engaged than older generations.
The PDEI is a valuable tool for healthcare providers because it can help them understand how their patients are using digital tools. This information can be used to improve the patient experience and make it easier for patients to access care. For example, if a provider finds that their patients are not using online scheduling tools, they may want to promote those tools more heavily.
In addition to improving the patient experience, increasing patient digital engagement can also have financial benefits for healthcare providers. For example, athenahealth has found that higher PDEI scores are correlated with higher patient pay yields. This means that providers who have more digitally engaged patients are more likely to collect the full amount that they are owed for their services.
Overall, the athenahealth Patient Digital Engagement Index is a valuable tool for healthcare providers who want to improve the patient experience and increase their revenue. As more patients become comfortable with using digital tools, the PDEI is likely to become even more important in the years to come.
Nelson Advisors
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athenahealth
athenahealth is a healthcare technology company that provides cloud-based solutions for electronic health records (EHR), practice management, patient engagement, and care coordination. Here's a breakdown of what they offer:
athenaOne: This is their flagship product, an integrated suite that combines EHR, practice management, and patient engagement tools. It's designed to streamline workflows, improve efficiency, and enhance patient care.
Focus on Interoperability: athenahealth emphasises open, connected systems that allow for seamless data exchange between different healthcare providers and organisations.
Network-Enabled Services: They offer a range of services that go beyond software, including revenue cycle management, patient communication, and population health management.
Patient-Centric Approach: athenahealth aims to empower patients with tools to actively participate in their healthcare, such as online portals for scheduling, accessing records, and communicating with providers.
athenahealth Patient Digital Engagement Index (PDEI)
The athenahealth Patient Digital Engagement Index (PDEI) was launched in April 2023. It is a measurement capability for medical practices to understand how their patients engage with them digitally. The goal of the Index is to help providers measure and improve how they interact with and support their patients, equipping providers and patients to move together toward a more digital, technology-enabled experience that will ultimately lead to better care.
The athenahealth Patient Digital Engagement Index (PDEI) measures how patients interact with their healthcare providers through digital channels. While the exact formula for calculating the PDEI isn't publicly available, it's based on several key metrics that reflect different aspects of patient-provider interaction.
Key metrics include:
Online appointment scheduling: How often patients use online tools to schedule or manage appointments.
Secure messaging: The frequency with which patients communicate with their providers or care teams through secure messaging platforms.
Accessing medical records: How often patients access their health records, lab results, or other medical information online.
Bill payment: The proportion of patients who use digital methods to pay their medical bills.
Use of patient portals: Overall engagement with patient portals for various tasks, including completing
forms, updating information, and tracking health data.
These metrics are likely weighted and combined to create a composite score that reflects the overall level of patient digital engagement with a practice or healthcare system.
In addition to these core metrics, athenahealth research has also highlighted the importance of patient satisfaction and the availability of digital tools in driving engagement.
By tracking these key metrics, healthcare providers can gain insights into how their patients are engaging digitally and identify areas for improvement. This information can be used to optimize digital strategies, enhance patient experience, and improve overall care outcomes.
Key Findings from the athenahealth Research team
The athenahealth Research team gathered critical data from a sample including over 6,300 practices on the athenaOne® network and over 50 million patients. The team found that the median score for 2023 is still only ~14 out of 100, highlighting the opportunity for improvement across the activities athenahealth tracks (messaging, scheduling, and payments).
Takeaways
While patient digital engagement has steadily grown from 2021-2023, the median score for 2023 is still only ~14 out of 100, highlighting the opportunity for improvement across the activities athenahealth tracks (messaging, scheduling, and payments). The practice scores for this study ranged widely, with some practices receiving scoring as high as 60.
Overall, we found that the larger the organization, the higher the median PDEI score.
The most digitally engaged patients are White or Asian millennial women who live in more urban areas (as compared to other races, genders, age groups, and geographic locations).
Financial benefits of increased PDEI
Patient use of digital tools to pay bills, view statements and bills, and perform other financial tasks have had the highest rate of overall growth among patient digital engagement activities for practices between 2021-2024.
Higher PDEI scores correlate with higher patient pay yields for practices, meaning these practices collect a higher portion of the patient responsibility from their patients and therefore write off less. A one-point increase in PDEI was found to be associated with a one-point increase in the proportion of total patient charges paid within one year.
Overall, these findings suggest that investing in patient digital engagement can have a positive impact on practice performance and clinician satisfaction.
Comparison among specialties
Women’s health and behavioral health are shown to have the highest digital engagement scores among specialties, with a median PDEI score of ~20-24. This tracks with other key findings demonstrating that these specialties tend to have patients who are more digitally engaged.
FQHC digital engagement has improved more quickly than other organization types. FQHCs started from a lower baseline score but have shown rapid improvement over the course of the study. This could be driven by better, easier-to-use tools, or FQHC use of federal programs that provide free cell phones or other digital engagement support.
Patient Survey results
The majority of patients, over 75%, responded that it was somewhat or very important for them to use digital tools to connect with the healthcare system.
Over 75% of patients agreed that digital tools simplify their interactions with the healthcare system
86% of patients have used a patient portal, patient app, or secure site to access personal health information in the past year
Over 60% of patients are currently using a patient portal, making it the top digital tool, while emails, texts, and telehealth are slightly lower in level of use but still show high engagement (30-50%). The data suggests that patients currently use a variety of digital tools to engage with the healthcare ecosystem and offering a variety of tools to engage with helps meet patients where they are.
The most common uses of digital tools include scheduling appointments, requesting medication refills, and filling out healthcare paperwork (such as intake forms).
Patients are most interested in using digital tools to receive test results (73%), get appointment reminders (72%), and schedule their next appointment (67%).
Nelson Advisors
Healthcare Technology > Mergers, Acquisitions, Growth, Strategy, Investments http://www.nelsonadvisors.co.uk/
We work with Healthcare Technology founders, owners and investors to assess whether they should 'Build, Buy, Partner, Invest or Sell' in order to maximise shareholder value and investment returns. lloyd@nelsonadvisors.co.uk/
We regularly share our thoughts on Healthcare Technology mergers, acquisitions, growth, strategy, investments, market insights & predictions on our blog https://www.healthcare.digital
We publish a weekly LinkedIn Newsletter covering Healthcare Technology mergers, acquisitions, growth, strategy, investments, insights & predictions. Subscribe Today! https://lnkd.in/e5hTp_xb
#HealthTech #DigitalHealth #HealthIT #NelsonAdvisors #Mergers #Acquisitions #Growth #Strategy #Innovation #NHS #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #UK #Europe
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