ArticleAdvances in health information science and practice2026
Impact of Health Care Policies on Patient Portal Adoption and Engagement in US Hospitals: Trends From 2012 to 2024.
Article in Advances in health information science and practice, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Background: Patient portals are essential tools for patient engagement, transparency, and communication in US health care. Federal health information technology (IT) policies, such as Meaningful Use, Promoting Interoperability, and the 21st Century Cures Act, have played a pivotal role in driving the adoption of these tools. Despite prior work on portal availability and use, longitudinal, hospital-level analyses aligned with major policy milestones remain limited. This study examines national trends in hospital adoption of patient portal functionalities from 2012 to 2024 and assesses alignment with federal health IT policy initiatives. Methods: We analyzed 2012-2024 data from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement. Three functional domains were evaluated: (1) patient access to information (view, download, and amend); (2) online administrative tools (bill payment, appointment scheduling, and prescription refill); and (3) patient-provider communication (secure messaging, patient-generated data submission, and external record import). Annual adoption rates were calculated, and monotonic trends were assessed using the Mann-Kendall test. Results: By 2024, 92% of hospitals had adopted both viewing and downloading functionalities (τ = 0.94 and τ = 0.97; Conclusions: US hospitals have made substantial progress in adopting patient portal functionalities over the past decade, broadly paralleling federal policy developments. Core access tools (view/download) are now nearly universal, whereas administrative and communication features continue to expand. Uneven uptake of advanced capabilities highlights variability in implementation and underscores the need for sustained policy support, technical assistance, and equity-focused strategies to ensure that all hospitals-and patients-realize the full benefits of digital engagement.
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