As part of an effort to develop a user friendly interface for a patient portal for the its 19.5 million residents to access their health records, the New York eHealth Collaborative with Health 2.0 is allowing the public to vote on 14 submissions as part of a crowdsourced design challenge. The voting doesn’t close until April 21, but so far three design ideas have taken a clear lead.
Among the criteria participants will be evaluated in the public vote, according to the website: overall design and usability, including user friendliness and attractiveness of the interface for a patient and a proxy user, ease of navigation and innovation in presenting educational and medical information within the submission.
Although the contest won’t be the deciding factor when it comes to the question of who will get the contract to build the patient portal — the state has to submit a request for proposal — but elements from the winning entry will be included in the selected contractor’s final product.
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Functionality goes a long way with would-be users and is the most prominent characteristic the leaders have in common. Mana Health’s submission includes a colorful dashboard with big graphics that display users’ basic information like heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood glucose levels. Another section allows patients to grant or deny access to hospitals to their personal health records. Omni MD‘s submission offers information from the patient’s health record, with links to more detailed data accessible in the margin. In the health education section users can include links to preferred medical education websites like WebMD. The health facilities section provides a drop down box for each facility to identify their level of access. VIP Business Solutions has a telehealth appointment component and has a boxy approach to organizing patient information such as office and telehealth appointments along with prescription drug information and medical conditions.
In an e-mailed response to questions, a spokesman for the New York eHealth Collaborative said many of the prototypes that have been submitted go beyond the development requirements.
“Common additional features that we are seeing include mobile applications, sharing of information with other family members or others, and the inclusion of rewards and motivational tools. We are assuming that the inclusion of these additional features comes from research the developers have done around what patients would need and want. We’re excited that entrants went beyond the requirements while still meeting the requirements we did specify. When it comes to the requirements we did specify –- we are seeing a lot of innovation in the display of information, specifically around medications and data from the patient record (such as vital signs.)”
Meaningful Use provisions are requiring providers to give 5 percent of their patients access to a portal to obtain information such as test results and to e-mail their physicians.
After the voting closes, 10 finalists will be invited to demonstrate their prototypes at two events: on in New York City April 30 in New York City and one in Buffalo May 2. The winner gets $25,000.
