How a state can incentive the development of patient portals

What is it about?

The US government provided financial incentives to health care organizations to use electronic health records and to engage patients online. In response to this policy measure, health Information Exchanges (HIE) in the United States have developed patient portals that they offer to network of providers. These portals enable basic capabilities that meet the meaningful use requirements. However, the portals shared by the HIE network give no access to electronic health record. Thus: incentives ignite interest among health service providers to install patient portals. Yet, this patient portals miss important functionalities.

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Why is it important?

The development of portals in the Netherlands and other European countries is slow. A government could play a role by setting the standards or incentive its use. The Dutch government is very hesitant to take this role. This study shows that state intervention may be necessary to put portals in place.