Kaiser Permanente Study Finds PHR Users More Likely To Stay Members

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Kaiser Permanente Study Finds PHR Users More Likely To Stay Members

Kaiser Permanente members who used a personal health record were more than twice as likely to remain with the health system than those who did not use a PHR, according to a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care, Modern Healthcare reports.

Methodology

The study -- funded and conducted by Kaiser -- examined data on 394,215 members of Kaiser Permanente Northwest between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the third quarter of 2008.

Most of the members held HMO policies, and 41% used Kaiser's no-cost My Health Manager PHR.

Key Findings

The study found that members who used the PHR were nearly 2.6 times more likely to choose to remain members of Kaiser than those who did not use the PHR.

According to Kaiser, more than 63% of eligible members are PHR users.

Kaiser found that email and viewing lab results are the two most popular PHR features.

Christine Paige -- senior vice president for marketing and Internet services at Kaiser -- in a release said that offerings such as PHRs "increase member loyalty and can improve the relationships between patients and their physicians" (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 7/30).