{"id":10176,"date":"2016-06-02T08:38:54","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T12:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthit-gov.go-vip.net\/buzz-blog\/?p=10176"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:18:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:18:03","slug":"playbooks-arent-just-sports-teams-helping-providers-patients-work-together-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthit.gov\/blog\/consumer\/playbooks-arent-just-sports-teams-helping-providers-patients-work-together-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Playbooks Aren\u2019t Just for Sports Teams: Helping Providers and Patients Work Together with Health IT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clinicians and other health care providers practice medicine with the noble goal of improving patient outcomes. The day-to-day considerations in treating patients are complex, which is where technology can be leveraged to streamline and better inform the patient-provider interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released new data showing that 96 percent of the nation\u2019s hospitals have adopted certified health information technology (IT), such as electronic health records (EHRs), and many of them are sharing this information with their patients. In fact, we recently reported the number of US hospitals that offer patient engagement EHR functionalities<\/a> has grown significantly. In 2014, six of ten hospitals provided patients with the ability to electronically view, download, and transmit their health information, a six-fold increase since 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When clinicians engage patients through health IT, they realize a reduced burden on office staff, improved responsiveness to patients\u2019 needs, lower utilization of health services, more engaged and informed patients, and generally more effective delivery of care. However, clinicians still face challenges accessing and viewing their health information online for a variety of reasons, from confusion about privacy and security considerations, to cumbersome enrollment processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of our efforts to provide tools and resources to help health care providers, we are excited to release the Patient Engagement Playbook for Providers<\/a>, an online tool for doctors, nurses, other clinicians, practice staff, hospital administrators and others who wish to leverage health IT to actively engage patients in their health and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why a \u201cplaybook?\u201d Playbooks aren\u2019t just static instruction manuals \u2014 they\u2019re constantly-evolving sets of strategies and approaches. Successful coaches update their playbooks regularly, and each iteration reflects new, innovative solutions to shifting circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this release of the first phase of the Patient Engagement Playbook for Providers, we begin by demystifying patient portals and describe how you can make them work for you and your patients. We\u2019ve compiled best practices and home-grown solutions from innovative providers and health systems around the country. There\u2019s much to learn from analyzing these bright spots and scaling their success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This first phase of the Playbook focuses on four key elements designed to help improve patient engagement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n