ONC issues patient portal engagement tool, videos

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology today released a “Patient Engagement Playbook” tool to help health care practices, hospital administrators and others use patient portals to engage patients in their health and care. “A patient portal doesn’t automatically increase patient engagement; to reap the benefits, practices must set up and use the portal in a thoughtful way,” the authors note. In collaboration with HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, ONC also released a series of consumer-oriented videos to help patients understand their right to access their health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.