The Surge of Patient Portals

Plus: 15 Applications of Generative AI in Healthcare and more

Here are the top stories we are covering in this week’s newsletter:

• What is driving the increasing use of patient portals
• A new way for healthcare providers to scrub their personal information from online databases
• 15 applications of generative AI in healthcare

INSIGHT

Patient Portals Are Finally Surging

The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT reported a 50% increase in the number of U.S. adults who had access to their medical records and subsequently used it over the last two years.?

3 out of 5 patients now use patient portals to access their health information. The majority of these patients used the patient portals to view test results (90%), view clinical notes (70%), download health information and to electronically send the information to a third party.?

An increasingly large number of users are reporting ease of information access and interoperability as the key drivers of user experience when using patient portals.?

In a recent survey , very positive experiences while using patient portals was attributed to the ease of finding relevant information. Users also reported the ability to transfer information to other healthcare systems or services as an important determinant of their user experience making interoperability a top priority when implementing patient portals in medical practices.

TOP STORY

Free Tool To Curb Online Harassment of Doctors

• 66% of doctors reported being harassed in some manner online in 2023, up from 23% in 2019.
• 18% reported that their private information had been shared online.?
• 85% of doctors worry about whether patients will access their personal information online.

Doxxing, the act of revealing identifying information about someone online, such as their real name, home address, workplace, phone, financial, and other personal information is increasing as a result of a recent spike in harassment.?

While paid tools are available to scrub private information to a degree, the announcement of a free tool - DocDefender by Doximity is raising the hopes for doctors and nurses.?

DocDefender can remove a physician’s personal phone numbers and addresses from public websites.? users can monitor the removal process directly through Doximity's interface, and they will receive regular follow-up reports about the status of their online presence. Additional scans will also be carried out periodically to identify any new listings.

SPOTLIGHT

News in numbers

• Physicians have a positive outlook towards AI and see maximum utilization in office administrative tasks and patient and staff scheduling. Physicians and AI report 2023 . 79% of physicians want to see AI play a role in streamlining administrative tasks, 78% saw its application in staff and patient scheduling followed by 76% physicians who saw its potential use in electronic health records.?
• According to Cassie's new Prescribing Privacy Healthcare Report , 90% of consumers say that healthcare providers that invest in data security technology are more reliable than those that don't, and of those, 43% are looking to switch to a provider that places a stronger emphasis on data privacy protection.
• According to Medscape's 2023 "Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report, 26% of physicians are considering a nonclinical career. Most physicians indicated they are considering moving into education and teaching (42%), healthcare business company (31%) or writing (21%).

ANALYSIS

Generative AI Is Changing Healthcare

According to Gartner, generative AI is estimated to account for 10 percent of all the data produced by 2025.

Generative AI models can create synthetic images that are close to real images. Some of the prominent generative AI models used for imaging are DALL-E 2, GLIDE, and ChatGPT.

In healthcare, generative AI helps doctors to create copies of patient data and automate form-filling tasks. It can also be integrated with EHR for documentation work.

Read the full article here .

SNIPPETS

What else is making news

• CDC launches national campaign to address physician burnout. The CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has launched Impact Wellbeing , a national campaign providing resources to hospital leaders that aim to address physician burnout and strengthen well-being.
• Medicaid disenrollment crosses 10 million amid eligibility checks. At least 10,046,000 Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled as of November 1, 2023. Overall, 35% of people with a completed renewal were disenrolled while 65% had their coverage renewed.
• FDA warns clinicians of recalled saline. The FDA is alerting healthcare providers to not use saline and sterile water products made by Nurse Assist after the Texas-based company recalled more than 70 solutions distributed by companies including Cardinal Health and McKesson.?
• Jana Care raises funding to aid its goal of chronic disease management. Jana Care, Inc. a remote risk stratification platform for chronic kidney disease and heart failure patients announces initial closing of a $6 million financing round to complete commercialization of its self-administered blood tests for kidney and heart disease.

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