Patients ranking E-health improvement initiatives in primary care centers

Abstract

An increasing number of initiatives are being proposed to improve Primary Healthcare Centers. Many of these initiatives involved E-Health solutions including, but not limited to, the following: Electronic Health Records, online booking, Personal Health Records, and online prescriptions. Incorporating patient input into initiative planning is a key part of decision making. The goal of the study was to identify and rank the patient-centered initiatives in primary healthcare based on patient preferences.We conducted a cross-sectional survey for Primary Healthcare patients. The survey consists of three sections: patient demographics, a comprehensive list of 104 potential reform initiatives, and a section for rating the satisfaction of existing services. The reform initiatives identified were guided by the Primary Healthcare Performance Initiative conceptual framework. This framework covers a wide range of potential areas that could be improved including appointment making, clinical services, after visit services, and facilities and infrastructure.A total of 406 patients participated in the survey. This participation level comprised a response rate of 41.8%. The survey identified the top patient preferences for initiatives that could be addressed via E-Health solutions. The priority reforms selected by the majority of patients were related to appointment services and provider-patient communication. The appointment services included several areas such as the options available for appointments, online booking, and appointment making for urgent cases. The provider-patient communication included distributing more information to patients, giving additional information related to patient health status and treatments, and accounting for patient questions and requests.

Keywords

• Primary healthcare
• Patient's preference
• Patients centered care
• Health policy
• Measurement
• Quality improvements