Changes in the healthcare industry encourage patients to be proactive about their wellness and health regime, helping them to change the culture from treatment to prevention. Proper implementation and use of ElectronicHealth Records (EHRs) facilitates the proposed change by engaging patients in wellness programs through the Patient Portal. However, the level of patient engagement may differ, depending on the use of EHR systems.


The first level of patient engagement requires practitioners to implement an integrated EHR system at their practice – facilitating their patients to interact with physician and practice staff for medical advice, scheduling visits and bill payments.

An uninterrupted communication through Patient Portal will allow the patient to stay connected with the practice, so that they are informed of their test results, change in medical dosage, appointment schedule etc.
At this level, a contributing patient emerges. This patient, after connecting with the information exchange tool, contributes towards the health record sharing. Such patients would like to stay updated about their health condition by accessing the information available on their Patient Portal. Similarly, they contribute to the medical information by adding information relevant to changes to their health, such as medications, allergies, immunizations etc.

By this level, access to and sharing of health information gives rise to a more responsible patient, the conferring patient. Based on their medical history and health information, they actively seek out advice, ask questions and engage with their physicians for creating health plan that would help them to lead a healthy lifestyle.

At this point, providers should adopt different models of practice to provide health advice to proactive patients with convenience. Telehealth is a cost and time effective means of providing healthcare to patients, who seek preventive medical advice to increase quality of their health.

Meaningful Use of EHRs is not only beneficial for medical practices, but it also helps patients to stay informed and engage in medical decisions to prevent health hazards.