Source

2012-2024 American Hospital Association Health Information Technology Supplements.

Citation

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. ‘U.S. Hospital Adoption of Patient Engagement Functionalities’ Health IT Quick Stat #24.

From 2012 to 2024, U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals reported a gradual increase in patients’ ability to access their health information and engage with hospital providers. By 2024, nearly all hospitals enabled patients to view and download their health information, view clinical notes, and securely message with a healthcare provider. By 2024, 85% of hospitals reported that patients could also electronically transmit (send) information in a structured format, but this number remains relatively flat since 2022. Since 2017, API-based app access to patient information has increased substantially, with 7 in 8 hospitals in 2024 reporting that their patients can engage with their health information in this way. Despite consistent growth over time, only a small majority (less than 2 in 3) of hospitals in 2024 enable patients to submit patient-generated health data.

For more information on hospital electronic patient engagement functionalities, please read data brief, Growth of Health IT-Enabled Patient Engagement Capabilities Among U.S. Hospitals: 2021-2024, which highlights hospitals’ growing adoption (between 2021 and 2024) of health IT-enabled foundational, emerging, and advanced patient engagement capabilities. 

Line chart titled “Percent of Hospitals Enabling a Variety of Patient Engagement Functionalities, 2012-2024.” The y-axis shows percentages from 0% to 100%. The x-axis displays years ranging from 2012 to 2024. A separate line, color coded according to the legend, is plotted across time to represent the portion of hospitals that enable each of a variety of patient engagement functionalities, including “view information from health/medical record”, “download information from health/medical record”, “electronically transmit information in a structured format”, “secure messaging with health care provider”, “submit patient-generated data”, “view clinical notes”, and “API-driven app access to medical information”.  

 

Percent of Hospitals with Capability

  2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024

Information access

View information from health/medical record 24% 40% 91% 95% 97% 97% 97% 98% 98% 99% 99% 99%
Download information from health/medical record 14% 28% 82% 87% 88% 91% 91% 92% 95% 96% 97% 96%
Electronically transmit information in a structured format   12% 66% 71% 74% 74% 73% 75% 78% 84% 85% 85%
View clinical notes             57% 81% 87% 93% 94% 96%
API-driven app access to medical information           39% 46% 73% 73% 86% 86% 87%
Import medical records from other organizations into portal           33% 36% 53% 50% 53% 56% 56%
Designate proxy access to patient information         86% 88% 86% 90% 90%      

Patient Engagement

Secure messaging with health care provider     51% 63% 69% 73% 75% 79% 89% 93% 93% 93%
Submit patient-generated data 7% 13% 33% 37% 40% 47% 52% 55% 55% 60% 62% 65%
Request to update health/medical record 31% 33% 72% 77% 79% 81% 70% 73% 75% 76%    
Pay bills online 49% 55% 67% 74% 80% 83% 87% 87% 89%      
Schedule appointments online 22% 30% 41% 44% 49% 56% 60% 57% 71%      
Request prescription refills online 19% 27% 39% 42% 50% 55% 57% 67% 79%      

Data are from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Information Technology (IT) Supplement to the AHA Annual Survey. Since 2008, ONC has partnered with the AHA to measure the adoption and use of health IT in U.S. hospitals.

The chief executive officer of each U.S. hospital was invited to participate in the survey regardless of AHA membership status. The person most knowledgeable about the hospital’s health IT (typically the chief information officer) was requested to provide the information via a mail survey or secure online site. Non-respondents received follow-up mailings and phone calls to encourage response.

The statistics reported in this quick stat reflect the availability of data pertaining to each patient engagement capability in each respective year that the Health IT Supplement was fielded. Beginning in 2012, statistics were calculated using answers from the survey question: “Are patients able to do any of the following regarding their health/medical records?” [multiple functionalities listed]. Beginning in 2019, the question included further specification regarding whether patients were able to perform each engagement functionality in an inpatient or outpatient setting. From 2019 onward, hospitals were counted as having enabled each respective patient engagement functionality if they indicated doing so in either an inpatient or an outpatient setting. Importantly, denominators include only non-federal acute care hospitals.

We note a change in analytic approach for statistics presented after 2015. For survey years 2012-2015, non-response was included in the denominator such that a response was captured as a hospital enabling the patient capability if the respondent indicated “Yes” to the survey item and otherwise as not enabling the capability. After 2015, nonresponse was excluded from the denominator, but a “don’t know” response was counted in the denominator as a “no.”

In years without a statistic for a specific capability, the particular question response item was excluded from the fielding and may no longer be included in recurring survey fieldings.