New research from athenahealth reveals a strong correlation between patient digital engagement and better financial performance. The study also highlights that practices with higher PDEI scores see reduced after-hours documentation time, or “pajama time,” for clinicians—a surprising finding that challenges assumptions about the impact of digital tools on workload.
“As the healthcare industry continues to adapt to meet increasing patient expectations and demands, patient digital engagement tools have shifted from a nice to have, to a must have for clinicians and practices. The PDEI is a novel tool we provide to our customers so that they can actively measure and track their patients’ digital engagement to ensure they are delivering the experience their patients are seeking in today’s (and tomorrow’s) healthcare environment,” said Paul Brient, chief product officer at athenahealth.
The research emphasises that practices with higher digital engagement collect a greater share of patient payments and write off less debt. From 2021 to 2024, patient use of digital tools to pay bills, view statements, and handle financial transactions grew faster than any other digital engagement activity.
Data showed that a one-point increase in a practice’s PDEI score was linked to a one-point increase in the proportion of total patient charges paid within a year.
Demand for digital tools
A recent survey of 1,000 patients across the U.S. highlighted the growing demand for digital tools in healthcare, with 75% of respondents deeming digital access to services as either somewhat or very important.
Over three-quarters of patients agreed that digital tools make their healthcare experience easier, with the most popular features being access to test results (73%), appointment reminders (72%), and appointment scheduling (67%).
Despite the benefits of digital healthcare tools, there are evident demographic differences in engagement. Millennials lead, with 22% of their healthcare interactions occurring online in 2023, while women (20.5%) are more likely to engage with digital tools than men (17.8%).
In addition, one of the unexpected findings was that clinicians in high-PDEI practices spend less time on documentation after hours. This contradicts the assumption that increased patient digital engagement would lead to higher provider workloads.